COSTLY DELAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25083, 22 December 1944, Page 4

COSTLY DELAY

THE PRICE OF PLUMS TRIBUNAL'S ACTION AVOIDABLE LOSS CAUSED Indignant complaints wore made yesterday by the wholesale and retail fruit trade in Auckland over what was described as an aggravated case of ollicial bungling in connection with the postponement of an order fixing a ceiling price for plums. The body accused was the Price Tribunal, and it was alleged that the negligence had caused loss to growers and retailers alike. The tribunal, it was stated, recently circulated an order fixing a ceiling price lor plums oi 10s a case, to become effective yesterday. This caused large quantities of fruit to be marketed earlier in the week. Sales at considerably reduced volume were in progress at the City Markets yesterday morning under the ceiling price when news j arrived that the Price Tribunal the previous day bad postponed the operation of its order for a week, namely, until December 27. As a result, several of the auctioneers stopped selling plums. Local Office Without Knowledge Information of the postponement was not obtained from the Auckland office of the tribunal. As the result of rumours the Fruit and Produce Auctioneers' Association asked the office for information and was told that nothing had been heard about a postponement. The association then telephoned the Price Tribunal in Wellington and received a reply that free marketing would be allowed to continue until December '27. The secretary ol the Auckland Retail I'rui t erers' A ssoeia t i<>n. Mr C ('. Kin;;, said that on December II he wrote to ilic tribunal asking for confirmation oi the ceiling price order. Having had no reply he issued circulars to members of jj is association this week, telling them that the order would take eltect. on December 21. Mr King said he knew definitely that an inquiry had been made in Wellington early on Wednesday afternoon regarding the order and the reply had been that the date held good. Wellington retailers had not known of the change until o p.m. on Wednesday. In Auckland the tribunal's inspectors were at work checking the new prices when news arrived that the operation of the order had been postponed. Confusion in Trade Die ceiling price represented a considerable reduction on some grades of plums, which had been selling up to 17s (3d a case earlier in the week. It was considered yesterday that the loss to growers at the sales had been reduced bv the smaller offerings, but that remote retailers probably had sold at the lower prices all day through not knowing of the postponement. People in the trade yesterday were particularly annoyed by the confusion which the tribunal's default had caused at a time of busy Christmas trade. They considered that a Government authority responsible for directing the course of business had no excuse for oversights of this kind. PROMOTION WON WELL-KNOWN GOLFER SQUADRON-LEADER BROWNE Advice has been received by Mr and Mrs C. M. Browne, of Stanley Bay. that their son, Flight-Lieutenant Allen lv Browne, who is a well-known Auckland golfer, has been promoted to the rank of squadron-leader while serving with the Royal Air Force in Burma. Squadron-Leader Browne joined the R.N.Z.A.F. in 1940, gained his wings in Canada, and received his commission

in Kngland. Squadron-Leader Browne served in England, and later in France with a night-fighter squadron, and achieved considerable success. One of his exploits was the destruction ot three enemy aircraft in one night Squadron-Leader Browne was educated at the Stanley Bay school and King's College. As a golfer he has won Ihe North Shore Club's championship, the Auckland champion of champions tournament, and was runner-up in the Auckland provincial championship. CLOSING OF MINES THE HUNTLY DISTRICT (0.C.) HUNTLY, Thursday All underground coal mines in the Huntly district closed yesterday for the Christmas and New Year holidays and will reopen on January 8. Some of the miners travelled out to the mines yesterday to receive their pay. It is understood that the open-cast, mines I will be working during the holidays. BUSY POST OFFICE FRANKTON RAILWAY STATION (0.C.) HAMILTON. Thursday It is not generally known by residents of Hamilton and the Waikato that apart from the four main centres the post office on the platform of the Krankton railway station handles more mail daily than any other sorting ollice in the Dominion. The office is open continuously, except lor a short time on Sundays and public holidays. Most of the mail sorted is transit mail. For example, if a letter is posted in Te Awaniutu for Otorohanga, it first comes to Frankton to be sorted. The district of the office includes the Bay ot' Plenty and Gisborne, Rotorua. Taumarunui. Thames. Raglan, and as far north as Mercer. With no room for expansion, the office is considerably hindered by lack of space. Mail has to be left on the platform, because of lack of storage space in the office itself. The staff of the office is normally 19. hut only 16 are now engaged. During normal times these employees can cope with the work efficiently, but during the present Christmas rush there is a slight delay in the despatch of the parcel mail. The postmaster, Mr J. Honey bun. said that the average number of mails handled was 2.'?,000 a month, or over 250.000 annually. He added that yesterday 1800 mails were handled, and over 2000 were expected today. COMFORTS FOR GREEKS A Consignment of 49 cases of comforts has been sent this month by the Auckland centre of the New Zealand Red Cross Society fo.- the benefit of Greek refugees. All the cases were packed bv women of the centre's packing and comforts committee, and the chairman of the centre. Mr K. C. Aekins, said yesterday that sirent praise was due fo the women of the various sub-centres for this excellent effort. He added that the comforts committee was very short of men's, women's and children's clothing for the relief of local distress.