BREAD PRICES

Grey River Argus, 4 May 1931, Page 8

BREAD PRICES

DUNEDIN POSITION. ! DISCOUNT FOR BIG BAKERS. i WELLINGTON, April 23. ' Hon Mr de la Parrelle, to-day, maat reference to criticism of the accuranv of the reporlts recently issued by his . Department, on the matter of ■flour - and bread pri-ees. A press message from Dunedin had quoted certain flour costs which were given in a section of the T|eport which dealt with costs during 1930. A*s wa« stated in both the i Lread and flour-infilling reports, theprices were increased generally during J 930 (July), by 10/- a ton. Another, point overlooked by the Dunedin critfcs is the ttflowahvo of discount on flour to bakers of 21 per cent., which ha s been deducted byjho Department., Thio figures put forward by the Dunedin baker wer|e gross prices, without deduction of discount. There is, therefore, no ambiguity or inaccuracy in the. report in relation to flour generally paid by bakers in the- main centres. What might have been men- ( tinned however, lis’the- fact that some few bakers doing a large business are 1 able to secure a. greater discount than the- 21 per cent., deducted by the Department, in the report. The only other point on which the Dunedin cifitic based 141 s suggestion of inaccuracy had reference to t-hd selling price of bread. The Depart- 1 ment when it made its investigations a few months ago, found that bread price-s in Dunedin (and in fact some other centres), vary considerably and a great deal of pfum-cuttf-ng, especial-I ly in Dunedin had been in evidence. It was nevertheless a ~fact that until quite* recently, at least, the standard er generally recognised price, in Dunedin wa s lid cash over the counter,' even though some traders were l selling lower. The recent prfice war in Dunedin may have made cut-prices more general than thte standard price of lid. The latter price is still, however, the prfi.ee whf.ch the* Master Bakers’ Asso-! ciation looks for, and the price -which is actually charged in“some shops.