MAN OF MANY WARES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19027, 26 May 1925, Page 12

MAN OF MANY WARES.

GROCER'S TRADE DEFINED.

KNOTTY PROBLEM FOR COURT. DECISION IN DUNEDIN CASES. © In determining what constitutes a grocer, for the purposes of a number of Dunedin applications for exemption in regard to closing hours, tlio Arbitration Court found itself confronted with a dilemma. "Admittedly," Mr. Justice Frazer said in delivering judgment, "it is difficult to defino what is meant by the business of a grocer, for it overlaps the businesses of a baker, a fruiterer, a confectioner, a chemist, a pork butcher, a tobacconist and a dairy-produce seller, all of which aro defined by section 2 of the Shops and Offices Act, 1921-22. It also overlaps the businesses of a crockery dealer and a hardware dealer, which are not defined in the Act. " Tho definitions of a grocer given in standard dictionaries do not assist to any great extent. Murray's New Oxford Dictionary defines a grocer as 'a trader who deals in spices, dried fruits, sugar and, in general, all articles of domestic consumption, except those that are considered the distinctive wares of some other class of tradesmen.' Webster's Dictionary defines a grocer as 'a dealer in tea, sugar, spices, coffee, fruits and various other commodities, chiefly foodstuffs.' Funk and Wagnall's New Standard Dictionary defines a grocer as ' one who deals in sugar, tea, coffee, spices, country produce and tho like excepting fresh meats.' The following footnote is added: 'ln England grocers do not deal at all in vegetables, and they sell but few. kinds of fruits.' Custom in New Zealand. "It appears to us that in New Zealand the word 'grocer' must be defined by reference to the goods generally sold by a grocer in this country. The word has a meaning that changes from time to timo and from country to country. Originally it meant a merchant who bought arid sold by the gross; that is, a wholesale dealer, or 'grosser.' "It is obvious that if wo wore to subtract from tho turnover of every person or firm trading under tho description of a grocer everything relating to items that might como under the description of goods sold by bakers, fruiterers, tobacconists, chemists, dairy-produce sellers, etc., we should probably find that there was not ono person or firm in New Zealand that could be described as carrying on business principally as a grocer. " Yet tho word 'grocer' has a fairly well, though loosely, defined meaning to tho average man, who knows perfectly well what goods he may expect to be able to purchase from any trader holding himself out as being a grocer. We cannot, therefore, dissect a grocer's business so as to leave ifothing in it beyond the salo of tea, coffee, sugar, spices and a few other commodities that are not stocked except by grocers, but we must take a wido genera] meaning for the word 'grocer,' and define it by relation to what the averago grocer may bo expected to keep for sale. The Court's Definition. " We have adopted the method of dealing with classification provided for in an analogous caso by section 32 of tho Shops and Offices Act, and have not classed an occupier as a grocer unless his principal business is that of a grocer in the sense we havo indicated. Wo have, moreover, in the caso of the small shops, treated fruit and confectionery as a single class of business in determining what tho principal business of a shop is, though a fruiterer and a confectioner arc separately defined by the Act. " been unable to regard butter, e*ggs and cheese as other than groceries when stocked by shopkeepers who carry on a general business. Similarly, tobacco has been treated as a grocery item in such cases. Bread, which, owing to tho cost of delivery by bakers, is nowstocked by most grocers, we have treated as doubtful for the present. Patent mcdi. cines, bacon and ham, brooms, domestic crockery and hardware have been regarded as groceries when stocked by firms carrying on a grocery business. "Some occupiers have double shops, in. one-half of which groceries are stocked. So long as they comply with the provisions of the award in respect of the grocery portion, they aro not affected by tho award in respect of the other portion, if the requirements of the Shops and Offices Act aro complied with. Tlio refusal of exemption in such cases is qualithis extent."