VEGETABLE PRICES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20618, 20 November 1941, Page 6

VEGETABLE PRICES

TRIBUNAL'S INQUIRY CAUSES OF SHORTAGE MERCHANTS' OPINIONS (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. The case for the auctioneers and merchants was presented to the Price Tribunal yesterday at the inquiry into the price of vegetables. “No Government, merchants’ or growers’ organisation could have seen in sufficient time the development. of the present situation and co have appreciably altered it,” said Mr. Arundel Turner, Auckland, on. behalf of the New Zealand Fruit Merchant and Auctioneers’ Federation. He suggested that consideration of the following points would assist in overcoming similar future difficulties: the making available of frequent accurate information of plantings and intended plantings, with comparative figures for the previous year, the making available of adequate supplies of suitable manures, the provision for suitable labour, intensified research into plant disease and pest control asaffecting vegetables, and the importation and distribution of suitable seeds and, where necessary, to implement labour in the provision of light farm, machinery. Uneconomic Prices Mr. A. Jacobs, managing-director of George Thomas and Company, Limited, Wellington, gave evidence for the New Zealand Fruit Merchants and Auctioneers’ Federation, of which heis president. This embraces practically all the firms engaged in selling fruit and vegetables in the metropolitan and provincial areas.

He said the auctioneers welcomed the inquiry. It was the uneconomic prices in one season which led to a shortage and high prices in succeeding years. The “dig-for-victory” campaign in 1940 had this effect. Suburban gardeners responded to the appeal to such an extent that during the height of the season many lines could hardly be given away, and the loss to producers was serious. Commercial growers, unable to judge wh'ether this campaign would bei repeated, were probably conservative •in their plantings of vegetables which could readily be grown by the suburban gardener, and no doubt concentrated on the out-of-season lines which would be more dependablewhen marketed.

There might be room for,.a difference of opinion on the Best ’rriCthod of. sale, but the auction system had stood the test of years. While other systems had been tried, auction was the method by which most of the supplies were sold. Buyers in the auction" market were keen and experienced men, with a gcod knowledge of values and the requirements of the public. They would pay for various lines what they were worth and in accordance with their ideas , of retail values, after allowing the necessary margin of -profit. i

Pulse of the Market Every retailer was liable to make a mistake but, generally speaking, they had the pulse of the market, which, in effect, was the demand of the -public. The witness .quoted .the following from the fruit .marketing .report, 1937: “The cbmriiittee fs -satisfied ,tha,t, sc far as the auctioneering arid brokers’ side of, .the business, as distinct from the trading side, is concerned, there have not been any excessive profits realised, or anything approaching such a state of affairs.” The charges now made for selling were exactly the same as in 1936, despite many increases in costs which the "firms had absorbed. The witness said the fruit find vegetable 'auctioneers were probably one .of the Tew sections of industry which was working on 1936 charges. : -.Mr. A. -P. O'Shea, New Zealand ’Farmers’ Union: Was -there, an outcry when, at periods in 1940, there were disastrous prices for the producers in certain "lines? Witness: That is one -you don't hear. ffhe chairman: Did -the public get the benefit of such prices?—That is a question for the retailers, though low prices in the markets are usually reflected in the shops.