PRISON BREAD

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 51, 1 March 1934, Page 12

PRISON BREAD

CHATEAU CONTRACT

MASTER BAKERS' REPLY

The attitude taken up by the master bakers of Taumarunui in opposition to the letting 'of the contract for the supply of bread to the Chateau Tongariro to the Prisons Department was expressed by Mr. F. Langstone, M.P., for Waimarino in an interview with a "Post" representative, today. Mr. Langstone said that the master bakers, when competing with the Prisons Department, were under .a big disadvantage. They had to pay rates, rents, and insurances on their properties, which the Department did not have to meet, and they had to pay wages much in excess of those paid by the Department, as well as income tax and unemployment tax • from which the Department was immune. Any business losses made by the bakers had to be borne by themselves, but in the case of the Department the State had to provide for all necessary expenditure and make good all losses. Naturally in the circumstances the Prisons Department could successfully compete for the Chateau bread supply. ; "The statement by the Minister of Justice (the Hon. J. G. Cobbe) about price-cutting and lorries working on the Toads needs a little- explanation," said Mr. Langstone. "The Chateau is situated four miles from the TokaanuTaupo Hoad up a very steep grade, and the prison lorries are not working in close proximity to the Chateau every day. The distance from the Chateau to the prison camp where the bread is made is at least eighteen miles, so that to deliver the bread requires a thirtysix mile trip. Over six days per week this means a total distance of 216 miles. If the cost of delivery can be loaded on to other works that the Prisons Department is doing it might appear negligible, but it is not fair competition, and is incorrect account keeping. National Park, which is the nearest railway station to the Chateau, is thirteen miles away, and, according to the ' Minister js statement that, the master bakers had offered to deliver three times per week, this would mean a weekly cartage of 78 miles. I have received a telegram from Mr. Anderson, of Taumarunui, however, stating that the bakers are prepared to deliver daily to National Park with freight paid. This would mean a total cartage- distance for six days of 156 miles, or 60 miles less than the Prisons Department. "The question that naturally arises is why doesn't the- Chateau make its own bread or in decency buy it from the bakers who make their living manufacturing bread. Although the Chateau is able at present to throw some of its loss on to the Prisons Department by getting bread a fraction of a penny cheaper, any loss made by the Department has to be met by the State, consequently the State is the loser in either ease. The master bakers are justified in complaining about the unfair competition from the Prisons Department and I am sorry to sec the Minister gloss over such manifest injustices that the Prisons Department is imposing on the master bakers by unfair competitive tactics."