HOKITIKA SHOPKEEPERS FINED FOR BREACHES OF PRICE REGULATIONS

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 July 1947, Page 3

HOKITIKA SHOPKEEPERS FINED FOR BREACHES OF PRICE REGULATIONS

(0.C.) HOKITIKA, This Day. Several charges under the price control regulations were heard in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday by. Mr A. A. McLachlan S.M. Edmund Morris and Massey Herbert Woolhouse were fined 20s each for selling meat at a price not in conformity with that authorised by the Price Tribunal.

Representing the tribunal, Mr F. A. Kitch'ingham said that in January, an inspector had bought a piece of loin rib first-grade mutton from the defendants’ butcher’s shop at Kanieri. He paid 3s for it and then disclosed his identity, and said he had been overcharged, the price order for the meat in question being 2s sd. For the defendants, Mr A. R. Elcock contended that the meat had been mid-loin, and, as such, was worth lOd per lb, not 8d per lb. H. M. Woolhouse said in evidence that he had been out of the trade for 12 months recently and was not familiar with price orders. He maintained that the piece of meat had been half mid-loin and half rib-loin. . Imposing the fines, the Magistrate said that it was not fair to the public to place a man in the shop who was not absolutely, conversant with the price .orders. Cyril Howard Harrison and Zella E. Harrison were fined 20s for selling cabbages at a price in excess of the price order. For the defendants, Mr Elcock said Harrison had been unable to procure cabbages through the market, and had bought some locally to satisfy the needs of his customers. He had bought them for 3d per lb, and sold them for 44d per lb, a profit of 50 per cent< The Price Tribunal stated that they should be bought (at the time of the offence, January 22) for 24d and sold for Sid per lb, which meant a profit of 66 2-3 per cent.