AUCKLAND FISH TRADE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2914, 19 January 1910, Page 3

AUCKLAND FISH TRADE.

ALLEGED RING. (From Our Own Correspondent.!’ i AUCKLAND. January 13. Some 12 months ago, it will be remens bered, the Minister for Marine, the Hon. J. A, Millar, suggested to the civia authorities in the four large cities of the Dominion that municipal fish markets should be established with a view to giving the public a regular supply of cheap llsh The proposal met with some support, but nothing was done to bring about such municipal control of the fish/ market, and the fishermen o f Auckland! are now, it is understood, moving to' secure better conditions for themselves and for the public. A meeting under the auspices of the Auckland Fishermen’s Union was recently held, and while the working conditions, as far as the men are concerned, have been somewhat improved', . the position is considered to be still far. i from satisfactory. “ The Auckland fish trade is in the I hands of a ring,” declared Mr R. Manning, ! secretary of the union, when speaking to a Star reporter this morning, “ and it ia l the public which suffers. The supply is ' i controlled by four or five men, who shut out the smaller retailers and regulate | prices to suit themselves. The fishermen i get Id per lb for their fish, and it is sold to the public for 3d, 4d, and even 6di per lb. Weigh some of the fish you buy, and you will find you are paying more par lb for it than you have to pay for beef. That fish in Auckland should bf an expensive luxury instead of the verf cheapest article of diet is simply deplor* able. The fisherman suffers and the general public suffers. Just take one instance of the way the consumer has te pay. Hapuka is caught and sold by the fishermen for Id per lb. That is all the ring will give him. The consumer has to pay anything between 4d and 8d per lb for it. That is not right. A penny per lb should give the retailer a fair return, and if cheap fish was obtainable and all the small retailers outside the ring were allowed to maintain a regular supply, this commodity would be found in every, home, and the fishermen of Auckland would be constantly' employed instead ol working according to demand as al present. “ The position is a serious one,” com tinned Mr Manning, “ and there are fully; 100 fishing boats and quite 200 men employed in the fishing industry here. If the supply of fish was cheap and regular, the demand would be sufficient to keep these men and their boats continually employed. The simplest remedy, of course, would ba a co-operative system, but the time seema hardly riue for that. There are certain things, however, which the public havo a right to expect, and cheap fish is one of them.”