PUBLIC MARKETS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2927, 20 April 1910, Page 4

PUBLIC MARKETS.

AN INTERVIEW ON THE SUBJECT. The proposal for the erection of publio markets in Dunedih contained irr a recommendation from the General Committee to the City Council that plans and speoioations for such an! establishment to be placed on the corner of the Market .Reserve, at a cost not exceeding £3OOO, be pre- w pared, was the subject of an interview by a Times reporter with Mr A. Moritzson. Mr Moritzson said that he had some time ago discussed the question of public) markets "with the town clerk,' and with. Cr Tapley, and had then urged the advisability of the council obtaining evidence from the wholesale and retail trade and the public, and then forming an opinion as to whether public 'markets are really required.. He was convinced that to establish markets in the position proposed for the sale of fruit, vegetables, produce, and fish would be to court utter failure, for they would not be availed of by the general public. If markets were, to be erected, the buildings necessary should be near the wharves and connected by a railway siding,_ and, they should be constructed in such s a way that the various auctioneers engaged in the trade could carry on their respective businesses there, and where the publio could attend and purchase, either wholesale or retail. The building would require to be of large dimensions, if it were to embrace the fruit, meat, fish, and' produce businesses, and receive what the small farmers round about the district were prepared to bring in. It would serve the much-needed Durpose ot concentrating the various businesses, especially those % of the fruit auctioneers, who would take their sales in turn under the one roof. All buyers would be present, and there would be fair and honest competition, while the grower would be assured of receiving full market values. JJut, although a great boon to those engaged"*im the retail fruit trade, Mr Moritzson did ~ not' consider that it would be availed of- to any extent by the general paiblio, who so often complained of high prices. In the large centres at Home, and in Melbourne and Sydney, where the populations are very large, and where -necessity" drives the people to look round for bargains,, such a market is essential. Similar conditions, however, do not obtain here, for the populations in the four are comparatively small. . The wealthy class will not S°., to market, and the proportion of the middle and working classes that would avail themselves of such a market was so small that it would" not pay the City Corporation to interfere with the existing condition of things. The general .rule is for the average man or woman 1 to deal in the shop, and have the purchases sent home, and if possible get credit'. In a public market everything would have to be paid for by cash: Mr Moritzson finally touched upon the price of fruit, and said that whiletravelling through Australia and. New Zealand it had struck-him that in nearly every town the barrowman was doing a brisk trade in fruit and vegetables. It was, of «W"»e, a well-known fact that shop people who had to pav high rents, etc., objected to such a method of selling goods, as it interfered with their trade.