PROFIT ON FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22804, 1 September 1939, Page 15

PROFIT ON FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

TO TSB *DITO* Of TBB FSIBtf Sir, —For some considerable time I have listened’to “Uncle Scrim’s” “Man-in-the-Street” sessions. I have been particularly struck .with the consistent way he has pleaded for t those people of this country who, for,-various reasons, find it difficult to procure the necessaries'of life in this land pf plenty. It has also attracted my attention how he abhors those correspondents who' write over a nom-de-plume. This will not worry him as far as-I am con-

cerned, for when I write I have the courage of my convictions and sign my name in full, together with my address. . My life would appear, in many respects, to be somewhat similar to that of Mr Scrimgeour’s, as I carried my swag at the age of 18, followed the occupation of shearing shed wool-scour-ing hand, and later was for many years a vepdor of newspapers. The difference now is (fortunately for him), while I am a wage-payer he is a wagereceiver. He is never tired of quoting the Prime Minister, who said that as production increased so would the standard of living be increased accordingly; he (the Prime Minister) would see to that. How is this going to take ■place? The prices of fruit and vegetables will be a big factor in this, as the production of berry fruit and market garden produce is the fifth industry of this country, and practically the whole of its output is consumed in New Zealand. The excess profit paid by the consumer on fruit and vegetables runs into enormous figures annually. The profit has been a$ high as 8000 per cent. Although appeals have been made to the Minister for Marketing and Industries and Commerce and the former Minister for Labour on many occasions, they have fallen on deaf ears. On oranges and bananas, which are controlled by the Government, the profit is fixed, at about 7s 6d. in the £, or 37J per cent., yet many hundreds per cent, are collected from New Zealand-grown fruit and vegetables. Although there is a price fixation tribunal, it does not apply to fruit and vegetables because in the main they are sold’ by auction. The Minister for Industries and Commerce has all the power required under the Board of Trade Act (a legacy left by a past Government) to prevent profiteering, but he remains immovable. The section of the community which suffers most from excess prices is that living in the country. The radio, a Government service, is used for this purpose. The prices as sent over the air do not convey the correct position. Quite a common practice is to state a price up to, say, ss, when perhaps only one article or one dozen has realised that figure, the average price being about 2s 6d. This allows the auctioneers, through the pernicious buy-ing-in system, to charge country storekeepers exorbitant wholesale rates. These are passed on to the consumer. It cannot be said that a past Government is responsible for the position today. It is wholly the responsibility of the present Government, which assists, as it does, with its broadcasting service. For “Uncle Scrim” to say the standard of living would be increased in accordance with the increased production under the above conditions is too stupid lor words.—Yours, etc., ♦ CHAS. E. POPE, Past President, Dominion Council of Tomato and Berry Fruit Market Garden Produce. , August 25, 1939.