FRUITERERS FINED

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28620, 24 June 1958, Page 18

FRUITERERS FINED

Apples Not Bought From Board (New Zealand Press Association) PALMERSTON N., June 23. Four Palmerston North retail fruiterers were each fined £2O today for having in their possession cases of apples not bought from the New Zealand Apple and Pear Marketing Board or from a grower, in accordance with the Apple and Pear Marketing Regulations, 1949. Mr D. G. Sinclair, S.M., said that the regulations in question were made law, he understood, through pressure by the industry itself, and severe penalties were provided. Any anomalies were created by the vendors themselves. Every retailer who abided by the regulations suffered through the competition of those who did not observe the law. As the regulations were made by the industry itself, it naturally followed that any infringement was motivated by greed of profit making. Representing the board, Mr W. G. Smith said that the infringements arose out of an inspection of ships by the board at the height of the picking season. In many cases, retailers claimed they were unable to get from the board particular varieties for which there was a demand. It was the duty of the board to supply retailers with fruit, but some retailers created peculiar problems for the board. In one case, counsel for a defendant said that at least two 1 months had elapsed between the picking of apples and their availability to retailers through the board. The fruit was, therefore, well past its prime. Growers in Hawke’s Bay advertised extensively in the Manawatu that they had fruit fbr sale, and retailers, having no legal stocks, could not compete with the growers.