2s 5d Price Of Bottle Of Beer

Press, Volume C, Issue 29673, 17 November 1961, Page 21

2s 5d Price Of Bottle Of Beer

The approved retail price for a bottle of locally brewed New Zealand Breweries beer in Christchurch was 2s sd, and not 2s 4%d, said Mr K. N. McGillivray, secretary of the Canterbury Hotel Association, yesterday. A spokesman for the Trade Practices and Prices Commission was reported to have said in Wellington on Tuesday that the approved retail price was 2s 4&d, while the price being charged was reported to be 2s sd. "This makes it appear that Christchurch retailers are charging %d more than the approved price for a bottle of beer,” said Mr McGillivray. "But that is not true. The correct price is 2s 5d a bottle.” Price Order He said the price was calculated on the basis of Price Order No. 1790, dated November 13. 1959. The price for a dozen bottles was calculated by taking the cost to the retailer (22s 2d) and adding the retail mark-up of 6s 3d a dozen allowed by the price order. But in calculating the price for one bottle from the price for a dozen, the order allowed the price to be calculated to the nearest upward halfpenny if the amount did not come to an exact number of pence or halfpence. Where the price of any “lot” of bottled beer sold was not an exact number of pence, the price for the "lot” must be set at the next upward penny. One twelfth of the dozen price of 28s 5d was 2s 4 5-12 d, said Mr McGillivray, and the price order provided for this to be brought up to the nearest upward halfpenny—2s 4lad for one bottle. “This is the basic price,” he said. “When we sell one bottle of beer this price is increased under the provisions of the price order to the nearest penny—2s sd. But when we sell two bottles the basic price of 2s 4%d applies, making the price for two bottles 4s 9d.” Mr McGillivray said the prices for bottled beer from one bottle up to 12 were 2s sd, 4s 9d. 7s 2d, 9s 6d, Ils lid, 14s 3d. 16s Bd, 19s, 21s sd. 23s 9d. 26s 2*d, and 28s 6d. These prices applied only within a five-mile radius of

the centre of the city. Outside that area and within a 20-mile radius the price was 2s 5d a bottle for any number of bottles. Outside the 20-mile radius, where freight was added to the price to the hotel, the new prices would generally be Id a bottle more than they were before the Price Tribunal approved the recent increase.