THE PRICE OF FISH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20959, 24 February 1930, Page 3

THE PRICE OF FISH

IS PUBLIC EXPLOITED? SOME REMARKABLE STATEMENTS. \ EXISTENCE OF “RING" ALLEGED. ■ '■?, r ’ the price and the amount of fish sold in Dunedin are being controlled by a limited number of shopkeepers, that the public is paying a much higher price forits supplies than is necessary, and that fash for which only IJd per lb is paid is retafied at as much as lod were allegations made by two fishermen to a Daily Times reporter. They maintained tnat both the consumers and the fishermen were suffering. as a result of the existence of a monopoly. ■ Last month, the fishermen stated, they had recived 15s, and in some cases less, rases containing approximately 1201 b of blue cdd. They had had to pay Is 3d per ease for cartage from Karitane to Puketeraki, Is 9d railage to Dunedin, and 6d fox' cartage from the rail to the market. In addition, 10 per cent, of the 15s W n?Li m ,. B i , 8 commission, with the rcsuit that fishermen received only 10s per case, or; Id per lb. This fish sold at lOd per lb in the shops. At the same time groper had been selling at from 20s to 25s per case of from, 1301 b to 1501 b. At times the price had been as low as 15s. One of the fishermen stated that he had actually seen this fish sold in a shop at Is per lb. V .Two cases of these fish in one day was ml aV 5 r i a 5 e c nn dl f 2 r , two men, the fishermen added. They had to pay about 4s a day for the cost of running the engine of the launch. The outlay for the launch hi „5L ftrst ,P‘ ace probably amount to £3OO, and, in addition, they had to pay the v re P au '®> painting, and the sects-■ safy lines and hooxs. Their complaint, however, was. hot so much that they did not get enough for their fish, as that the shops were charging too high a price in w u at the?Jwid for their nh?* sold at a reasonable price when-'the fishermen also received a small return, they would have no cause for complaint, but the shops hi g h , priccs - fisher,tllec shopkeepers to buy two cases instead of one, and to give the public the benefit. At present they y °j e i u ase £ t ,° tte detriment If the public and the fishermen. The fishmongers took no risk of losing any of the XL i * g ll nofc being able to sell it, and tney kept the prices high. Xhe_fishermen could venture out every aay it there were an outlet for their hauk but'at present they went out only on three or four days a week. If thev went out at the end of the week ther« wculd be no sale for the fish that was present they had to cease operations on Thursday mght in order to When ai +w e f , or Monday morning. S th Tf e , was tyd weather.' fish was tn nrfm w °uld probably, amount Mmifk/ ° ne , case - As a result of the limited supply on the market? the price might rjse as high as from £2 5s to £2 ]°LP? r c £ Be ; If there were -50 boats in a fishing fleet, 20 might get one case each, runs®* fh£ lauSch. * the COSt of wi?i? “VhT? s • f S ° * be r! e had been trouble, with the-Railways Department over a' site of which the salesmen had had the hfd S2L a J ong The matter brought up at a meeting of the bdifd C a“fifin' and i ha I d . n decided to bmJtl a< fish market which had cost the aSvTS f s ° oo ;i, Were the ' conditions w?iLv et a?u £rom V l ®'ratepayers’ point of CO v D uL had Bpent £SOOO on a bui mmg for which two men each paid 16s a week for the rights of selling fish These two mien controlled all -the Wing and amounted £ ° r yearß, i They had what fho e< R t cn r ° m fhe trawlers to the shops, and the fishermen understood, the nest mornlngs prices, were accepted. - , . conditions of which they had been apP i? d fi ®hermen at the NugfcfiT- ’ 1 M outh, -Port Chalmers, aud Moeraki. as well as at Karitane. There y a ?. % ring m DunecKn which controlled the price of fish. ■: COn About two or three weeks ago, one ot the fishermen stated, there had been so much red cod that a dinghy could have beendoaded in half an holr or an hour!: At the same time he had seen red cod in: a shop marked 8d per lb. The fishermen rnrf received wordnot to send any “ed and - as 5t was uns aleabfe! sent SI a larce quantity had been to be «Tumpld™ aAet t 0 P ° Chalmerß

FISHMONGERS’ VIEWPOINT. THE "ALLEGATIONS DENIED. whom the statements fil’ - as iav as the Jn Dunedin W as con . d i? e & lf metl themselves kept the n W + n ' The y were forced to do se tfro? r +k t 0 pa i V % lr expenses.' Jn the had W G ,ffl ekS m ■ last month h] s firm “ a *t Ibst £6O, /This was due to Inti weather and the fact that fish was exTr e i«n U l K i y^ de /!■ for , the timc o£ the year. "Pish at that time had been gelling at alV t To es the usiial priced Ordinarily 35s to* 40s .was paid for a case of nn^? e nf° r i BO i es ’ whereas "during the greater as * ®? on th the fishmongers had had to pay £2 to £2 10s. He had not bought groper at 25s a case for years. In c n tjf s ° cor| taining 1201 b of groper about K ast ?-. firing Sot weather tn* n an avera s e of iiib He had been connected with the trade for about 40 years, and during the "M e ° f that tupe there had been trouble regarding the price of fish even when it had been selling,at 3d per lb. The nrices which the fishetmen had quoted for groper were ridieuJous If a case of groper sold fish 2 TT* T°u d contal , n barely 1001 b of nsn. ii e h a d never known a case of 15°or r 2o° b ° sold at 15s during the lasl years* At this time of the year TheJnA W °- Uld nO K hHy ** h v! 1,,v nSl r ? ud bad to be thrown cn,l Wii a PP|icd particularly to red cod What was the use of selling it even sold S in Peae a I b » °TT ly ?lb or 31b could be se 1 ? i oubted if it would sell at this time of the year even if it were marked at-Id per lb. There was no denen’i ? d « aU «m BhopkooJePs wore “ dependent of one another. Indeed, there ' strong competition. v fishmrm'fflr I to * **,° sta . ten ’Cnt that the fishmongers kept the prices high by buvcould “not i Rtatpd tl «at they coma not afford to lose anv of thpfr at P ?2 C to £ 2 W , h o en bC had »>“ Wht B rte at £2 to.£2 10s a case ana sold it at Is per lb he had lost 10s a case. If the fish-and-liad r P ° U b , sh fov sales and had no sidelines, there would not be a fish shop m Dunedin. A Port Chalmers fisherman, who also buys and cures fish, described the statenol°knn w ft n° £ n tt UßG ’ a l d • BtatGd that be di<l not know of the existence of any ‘‘ring’' > a Dunedin He said that hot weaker and the fact that so much fish was lost Hb. S , responsible l for the present prices. He had never seen blue cod sold at the fa r st he ? n,y , on Wednesdav a ease nf d 3 / ls ir T three-quarters of a ~^ aSG f of groper/ Very often when a case of fish arrived m the shop only a small portion was fit for safe Another prominent fishmonger also denied the existence of a “ring.” He added, that there was a fishmongers’ association in the city, but his firm hud rts«ww l ?» n with k > and hc d > d not' think that there was any control of the letoil price. The fishermen’s remarks regarding the purchase of fish at l?.d and its sale at lOd were not worthy of “notice A large supply of red cod had been coming to the market, and it had. perhaps, been purchased at lid. but if had to be scaled and cleaned, and was sold by his l 4d ,P CV The public did not suiter from the existence of any monopoly, as the weather controlled the demand for r V,, “ fishermen received 15s for 1201 b ot blue cod the fish must have been m a deplorable state, and it would probably be .unfit for sale. His firm was paying lb for Idue'oclcaugh? at Moeraki without having been headed or cleaned, and had to pay freight to Dunedm and lor the return of the boxes. This fish was retailed at lOd per lb If groper was sold at 20s a box it must hove been only a half box containing two Or l.n-ce fish. Last month his firm paid cm the market as much as 75s a box. By the time it appeared in the window the cost to the firm was 10} d. per lb, and it had been sold af Is.- At present his firm was paying 4d per lb at Moeraki, and in

addition hud to pay the freight 1 The lieb had to he cleaned and was sold at 8d per !b. With the exception of red cod tliere had been no glut so far as he knew Red cod did not keep, and the public did not like it, with the result that the fishcoulcl bl, y o,l 'y a limited supply. Ihe hshermen who were complaining had not given the high prices which they had received last month. His firm was compelled to go elsewhere for its supplies owing to the restriction placed on the catch at Port Chalmers. He would like to see the wholesale price of fish published daily. p