Cake stall ban widely opposed

Press, 24 February 1987, Page 6

Cake stall ban widely opposed

PA Dargaville The town of Dargaville has seen everything now — gang battles, the demise of toheroa shellfish, trawler pillaging and finally the last straw — a ban on selling cakes from street stalls.

The ban, known locally as the battle of the buns, is becoming a feud between the Borough Council and the women of Dargaville, who bake for charity and church organisations.

The ‘ time-honoured tradition of cake stalls which reaches back to colonial days, is as much a part of country life as farm-gate beef and gumboots. In less than the time it takes to dock

lambs’ tails, the Borough Council ended this practice a fortnight ago by invoking section 20 of the Food Hygiene Regulations, 1974, which only permits the sale of foods prepared in registered kitchens. The ban came after a retailer complained that the stalls cut into his trade. Battlelines were drawn in the town. The Borough Council quietly approached the various organisations and explained why it had invoked the regulations. But the council turned down an invitation to publicise its view alongside an editorial in the local evening newspaper which strongly con-.

demned the council for halting a traditional New Zealand way of raising money. Support for the stand against the council came from many organisations, some of whom were fearful that the ban would be copied by other local bodies. Some women’s organisations wrote to their national headquarters and to local newspapers. All were opposed to the ban which was seen as an insult on the standards of cleanliness of home baking. The Red Cross urged the council to lift its ban for humanitarian reasons. The S.P.C.A. saw the demise of stall-baking

sales as a restriction on its work of protecting animals.

The Girl Guide organisation said it needed funds from cake sales to pay for the training of girls and to provide camping equipment The Plunket Society said cake sales were crucial to its continuance, as the stalls raised onefifth of its income. ■ A P.T.A. branch said street stalls were its lifeblood.

Not all the protests came from organisations. Five slimmers wrote that they would use-the ban to lose weight by boycotting the complaining food retailer.

The former owner of a town home cookery .said

that the Borough Council was applying double standards. “When we complained that street stalls were taking our business away the council refused to do anything about it,” she said. The local newspaper ran a telephone survey to test public opinion, and everyone was opposed to the cake ban.

One angry resident asked: “What is the council up to? It can’t have its cake and eat it too!”

The Mayor, Mr Peter Brown, had a final word: “The council will never shut its doors, but any reason to revoke the ban will have to be better than those put forward so far.”