SOLDIERS AS FISHERMEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17337, 8 December 1919, Page 8

SOLDIERS AS FISHERMEN.

COMPLAINTS OF TREATMENT. ALLEGEDLY HAMPERED IN TRADE. About 70 returned soldiers have been assisted by the Repatriation Board to go into business as fishermen in Auckland. Latterly these men have complained that they are having difficulty in disposing of their catches, and the matter has been the subject of negotiation between the board and the Markets Committee of the City Council. As a result the committee last ■week submitted a list of prices to the union -which it was prepared to pay for fish, but added a proviso that fish could he taken only if the market were suitable. This was felt to be too indefinite, and members of the Fishermen's Union on Saturday waited upon Messrs. M. M. McCalhim and J. McLeod, representing the Repatriation Board. It was stated that the men could not rely upon the acceptance of their fish at the City Council depot, that the prices paid were inadequate and not sufficiently defined. The need of suburban facilities for the disposal of fish, and-of a receiving depot, Were also referred to. It was asserted that there was a considerable margin between the price paid for catches at the* depot and those prevailing at the retail shops, and a further allegation was that at auction sales there was a "ring" oi buyers. The matter was left in the hands of the board for further negotiation. It is understood that the opinion is held that the City Council should take all fish caught by the men without the conditions imposed by the Markets Committed. Failing that, there is same suggestion that, aided by the hoard,»the men should start a receiving depot or shop and engage hawkers tc sell their fish. As an illustration of the difference in prices paid to the men and i those charged to the public by the Council it is stated that for hapuka, cleaned, the fishermen receive 2|d per lb., whereas the retail price is 8d per lb. The position *tf the City Council in the matter wr.s referred to by the Deputy Mayor, Mr. A. J. Entrican, when the subject was brought under his notice. He pointed out that the council could nol guarantee to take all the fish caught by the line men. The difficulty was to gel a steady supply r.nd not an over-plus, it ' view of the lack of sufficient storage ac • commodafeion. Fish was, of course, very I ! perishable, and therefore hard to stock ' The supplies had to be limited to the de > mand, and lately, even during the butchers ! strike, the public had not been consuming ■ so much fish as might have been sup i posed.