SOME SHOPS SEEK CENTRAL MARKET

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31783, 13 September 1968, Page 1

SOME SHOPS SEEK CENTRAL MARKET

Some fish retailers blame the Christchurch system of marketing for contributing to the present high price of fish, They would like to see a centralised market—perhaps provided by the Christchurch City Council—where all wholesalers could auction their fish.

At present tliere is just one fish auction in Christchurch, co n - ducted by P. Feron and Son, Ltd, and other wholesalers who have fish to sell set as their price the highest price reached at Feron’s auction.

“There are four wholesale firms,” said one retailer, Mr Theo Papageorge, “but only one auctions its fish. The others sell at the auction price. ONLY ONE CASE “In New South Wales all fish is auctioned and anyone selling outside the auction has to pay a surcharge to the auction floor. That’s to discourage them from selling anywhere but at the market." Mr Papageorge said only one case of rig was auctioned yesterday, bringing 38c a pound. “There could be eight more cases that didn’t reach the auction floor,” he said. “If I bought a rig at 38c I could only get 36c after frying it.” Mr Papageorge said Christchurch fish retailers were

worse off than those in any centre in New Zealand. “Centralisation is the answer,” he said. “Either the City Council or a private company could set up a central market —just as there is for meat, fruit, vegetables and wool.” THREE VARIETIES

To indicate the spiralling price of fish, Mr Papageorge quoted wholesale prices for the three most popular varieties. He said groper cost 15c three years ago, and yesterday cost 36c; tarakihi had gone up in the same time from 8c to 24c, and gurnard had gone up from 5c to 18c. Rig and elephant fish, both used for fish and chips, had gone up from 15c to 32c in three years, and the rig he bought yesterday was substandard,” he said. Another fishmonger, Mr T. McKenna, who manages Knowles’s fish shop in Armagh Street, agreed that the auction system in Christchurch was unfair. GLASGOW CITED

“A centralised market would be the ideal thing. That’s what they have in Glasgow. Then we can see all the sellers and all the buyers, and you can go from one to another looking for the right price and the best quality.

Another retailer, Mr B. E. Mather, of Fendalton, said he considered the present system reasonably good, especially when there was a good supply of fish. “The fish that is not auc. tioned wouldn’t amount to much,” he said. “There’d be only about 20 cases that were not auctioned this week. And who would take the surplus when fish is plentiful? At present Feron’s take the surplus and export it.” Mr Mather said the answer was to encourage the public to eat more fish. “If people ate fish more,” he said, “we’d get bigger and better boats out fishing, and a better supply to the market.” “STUPID IDEA” Mr M. L. Newman, managing director of P. Feron and Son, Ltd, said the proposal for a centralised market was a “stupid idea.” He said the cost of establishing it and running it would be enormous, and the public would be paying. Mr Newman estimated that 80 per cent of the local catch already came through his firm’s auction. For many years Feron’s was the only market in Christchurch, and he considered the trade was served better when his firm had the monopoly.