FISHING INDUSTRY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20164, 6 February 1940, Page 6

FISHING INDUSTRY

GISBORNE WHARF SALE NOT SERIOUS IN 1937-38 COMMISSION’S FINDING In view of the ban on the sale of fish at the Gisborne wharf at present it is interesting to recall a decision made in 1938 by the Sea Fisheries Investigation Committee not to interfere with the action of fishermen in selling over the wharf. The committee, with Mr. dames Thorn, M.P., as chairman, was appointed on February 25, 1937, by the Governor General, Viscount Galway, and its work was carried into 1938. “There are two wholesale firms in Gisborne, the principal of these being Gisborne Fisheries, Limited, conducted by Messrs. Zame and Nicholas, who, with two other partners, recently merged their interests,” stated the report of the committee, inter alia. “The other wholesaler, W. Brown, is mainly concerned with country retail delivery, but does sell certain small quantities wholesale to a retailer in. Gisborne and one in Tolaga Bay. “The total of fish landed at Gisborne in 1936-37 was 4219 cwt, compared with Napier,. 15,585 cwt: No great proportion of Gisborne’s fish is sold in other centres, but what small quantities are so sold are dispatched freight forward. At times certain quantities and varieties are brought into Gisborne from Napier, Taurnnga, Whakatane, and Wellington. “Gisborne retailers complain as to the prevalence of the practice of selling fish by fishermen at the wharf as the boats come in, often at a price as low as ljd per pound, when they expect the wholesaler to pay, as he does, 21d per pound. This practice has been established many years in Gisborne, and although it operates '

against the interest of retailers it is not considered sufficiently serious to warrant a recommendation for its abolition.”