SALE OF TOBACCO

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 303, 16 September 1921, Page 6

SALE OF TOBACCO

REQUEST FOR AMENDING LEGISLATION. Representatives of the Tobacconists’ Association, which has been holding a conference in Wellington this week, waited upon t]ie Acting-Minister of Labour (Hon. W. Downie Stewart) yesterday afternoon-to ask for certain amendments in the Shops and Offices Act. They stated that they were concerned particularly with the sale of tobacco by fruiterers and others outside the hours within which tobacconists were allowed to do business. This form of competition was very unfair, and the deputation asked that shopkeepers should not be allowed to (fell tobacco unless they licensed. The -penalties for breaches of the law ought to be mode severe, and should include the withdrawal of licensee in the cases of traders who were convicted more than twice of selling tobacco outside the fixed hoiwj. The Minister promised to give full consideration to the matter. He pointed out that the Shops and Offices Act was already a very compj’°atcd measure, and that a regulation <>■ kind suggested was not a simple rna; •-<,<■ Many retailers carried on several branches of trtfde, and so caused overlapping. He recognised the force of the arguments that had been presented by the representatives of the tobacconists, and he would look into the matter with the object of seeing if anything could he done to meet their case during the coming session of Parliament.