TOBACCO COMPETITION

Evening Star, Issue 19787, 10 February 1928, Page 5

TOBACCO COMPETITION

DUNEDIN JOINS IN PROTEST

PRICE-CUTTING TROUBLES

There is a tobacconists’ association it each of- the four centres in New Zealand. Auckland has taken the lead in endeavoring to find a solution of tho pi ice-cutting difficulty. It is a serious matter for the retailers. Tobacco and cigarettes are_ being sold practically at cost by certain shops that stock such goods only as a side line for tho puri pose of catching other business. That 1 u the position in most of the larger towns of the dominion, and it is as acute in Dunedin as anywhere else. Tobacconists point out that they have pay award wages, and that if their J refits are taken away they may have 3 discharge men assistants and take on girls. The immediate endeavor is to have a conference in Wellington representing the whole of New Zealand. A meeting of Dunedin tobacconists is _being convened to discuss the position, , and at that meeting it will probably bo proposed to appoint delegates to any conference that may be held. New Zealand, it is said, is the only part of the British Empire wherein piices are not fixed by tho manufacturers under Government supervision, and a leading retailer remarked _ today, when questioned on tho subject, that unless some Government control is exercised well-known brands of tobacco and cigarettes will continue to bv sold at prices very little above cost. At present tho Government has no power of control, but tho situation is so serious that an Act to confer such power may be necessary, A requisition under the Shops and Offices Act of 1927, signed by a huge majority of tho Dunedin tobacconists, lias been forwarded to the Minister ot Labor in respect to gazetting the hours of closing. As soon as that is gazetted every retailer who stocks tobacco and cigarettes will be compelled to observe the same hours as tobacconists. This Act, which came into operation on the first of the present month, makes it obligatory for every person who sells tobacco and cigarettes to notify the fact to tho local officer of tho Labor Department.