The New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUR AGENDO. MONDAY, OCT. 24, 1870.

New Zealand Herald, Volume VII, Issue 2105, 24 October 1870, Page 2

The New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUR AGENDO. MONDAY, OCT. 24, 1870.

Iμ- recently noticing some of the more important measures which would no- , cesearilj come under the consideration 1 of the Council, in the session to com- i mence next week, that of a public . market for Auckland was alluded to. , It is a matter of such exceeding ini- • portance to so iarge a proportion of • the community, and especially to the t country settlers, that we cannot too •■ strongly or too often enforce the neees. ~ sity or the undertaking. A sort of t attempt was some time since made- to u meet tins want when tho Citv Board t took over the site of the oid Nuprcno « o Court-house, but (here was no siueeiv ! v

desire upon the part of that body to supply what was really wanted by the country settlers and by the work ng and consuming classes in and about Auckland. The site was let off in I portions as mere retail shops, and these even were taken in some instances for purposes foreign to a market altogether. But it is not the mere congregation together of a number of produce stores that is required or that ! constitutes a market. What the settlers i want, and what is equally needed by the consumer in town, is that the two parties shall be brought face i to face together without the intervention of a middleman at all in their transactions. As it is, the proi ducer obtains a wholesale price for his goods which pays for neither the risk, trouble, or expense of their I growth, while the consumer in Auckland and the suburbs, in repurchasing these same goods of the middle-man who has bought them, pays a great deal more than ho ought to do. Nay, in some cases the first loses, and the second pays the profits of two distinct middle-men or agents — that of the auctioneer who first disposes of the produce, and that of the retail dealer who buys at the auction to resell to the general consumer. And what this loss often is to the grower the latter 1 only too well knows. The dealers combine and agree not to give above a certain price; there is little fear of competition at auction in large lots from the general consumers; and so the farmers' produce is sacriGccd for tiio benefit of the retail dealer. Car. we wonder, when such is the case, that tliero should be large importations of cheese, butter, bacon, and other produce from the neighbouring colonies? Our only surprise is that, in the face of so bad a sale for their goods, our farmers' produce as much as they do. Nor is it alone the producer who suffers by the present system. The consumer has to put up with an inferior article, and to pay a much higher price for it than he ought to do ; for one effect of this system is to reduce the general standard of excellence in the goods produced. The price is so low to the grower that there is little difference between that for •rood and for inferior produce, and the consequence is an indifference and carelessness as to quality. This is specially noticeable in the matter of grain. The careful farmer who selects the. besf seed, and thoroughly dresses and cleans his grain for the. market, finds when he brings it to town that he gets but. a very little better price, if any at all, than that obtained for an ■ an ill-grown, ill-dressed sample. Grain is grain, and the price is all alike, but ' unfortunately for the farmer the value of the worst sample is taken as the standard. But, as we have said, under the present system the consumer is made to piy far more than lie ought to do. Tins goods bought for a mere nothing often, at auction, and direct of the farmer, are retailed at a uniform high price, and the consequence is that verv many persons and families are either precluded altogether from the general u.ie of the good things of the farm, or are compelled to use them more sparingly than they ought to lie able to do, to the injustice both of themselves and of the farmers, the consumption of whose produce is thus made considerably less than it would be. Why, for instance, should those more fortunate farmers who can got their butter fresh to town be mulcted threepence in the !b. by the retail shopkeeper on the sale over the counter of this article, and that, too, whether the price of butter bo two shillings or one shilling the lb ? When the latter price. Ihe retail dealer actually demands twenty-five per cent, per week for the outlay of his money in acting as agent for the farmer. What usury can equal this, though those who pay it arc far more fortunate than the up-country settler, who must be content to scud his butter to flu , Auckland auctions, where it commands from threepence to sixpence per lb., according to the supply and the caprice of the dealers who combine to purchase it? And this sort of thing prevails more or less in the sale of every article of farm produce.

What, tl;en, we need, is a public market place, where the grower can himself brim; or send his produce <l:iily or weekly, and then and there dispose; of it either wholesale or retail to all coiners. The ordinary laws of supply and demand would fix a fair price between buyer and seller, lower t'liin the present retail price of farm and vegetable produce, but better both for the farmer and the general consumer, for while the latter would olitiiin a belter article for less money than now, the former would receive, what he cannot often now do, a remunerative price for wliat lie sells, and would also find tnat in proportion as the cost was lessened, to the consumer, the greater would the consumption^become.

At home the public market places j are spacious enough to provide for | the wants of all producers. There is the grain department, where the several buyers attend seated at their own desks, or mix among the throng of farmers who attend with samples of the grain they have to sell ; there is another portion of the building set apart for tho accommodation oFthe market women bringing eggs, butter and poultry for sale, while stands or stalls are available for the produce of the fruit, vegetable, or market gardener. Producer and consumer, and retail dealer, too, would thus bo brought together where the housewife might purchase the day's or week's requirements of the family, or the retailer bargaiu for a larger quantity at a wholesale price, which would allow him a fair return on re-sale. The want of a public iriiirket is a crying evil in Auckland. It has sacrificed the interests of the fanner to those of the retail dealers, and has thus largely assisted in hindering the settlement of tho country, and it has driven from tine altogether, or made far scarcer than they should be in the homes of our working-clauses, 'he description of produce we have specially alluded to.

CITY WEST ELECTION. On Saturday evening a gentleman interested in the representation of the District of City West, and who has been engaged in the getting up of a requisition from the electors of that district to his Honor T. B. Gillies, Esq., informed us thai the Superintendent has signified his intention of not standing. The! requisition will, therefore, not be presented. Mr. Grilliea, henring of this requisition, had atated that he would on no account contest an election with Messrs. Diguan and Williamson, who had represented their district long and faithfully, but that he should be happy to come forward for some other seat. "We think that Mr. Gillies has, in this matter, acted with a (k-licaey of feeling very unusually exhibited in Auckland on occasions of this kind, and we have no doubt that the voters of Frankliu will be glad to secure the services of a gentleman of such well-known ability and devotion to the interests of the province as Mr. T. B. Gillies.