UNFAIR COMPETITION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18335, 1 March 1934, Page 7

UNFAIR COMPETITION

PRISON-MADE BREAD SUPPLY FOR THE CHATEAU • M.P. SUPPORTS PROTEST (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. The attitude taken up by the master Lakers of Taumarunui in opposition to the letting of a contract for the supply of bread to the Chateau Tongariro was expressed by Mr. F. Langstone, M.P. for Waimarino, in an interview, to-day.

He said the master bakers, when competing with the Prisons Department, were under a big disadvantage. T,hey had to pay rates, rents, and insurances Which the department did not have to meet, and had to pay wages much in excess of those paid by the department, as well as income tax and unemployment tax, from which the’ department was immune. Any business losses made by the bakers had to be borne by themselves, but in the case of the department the State had to provide all the necessary expenditure and make good all losses. Naturally, in the circumstances,, the Prisons Department could successfully compete for the Chateau supply. The statement by the Minister of Justice, about pricp-cutting and lorries working on’ the roads needed a little explanation. The Chateau was situated four miles from the Tokaanu-Taupo road up a very steep grade, and the prison lorries were not working in close proximity to the Chateau every day. The distance from the Chateau to the -prison camp where the bread was made wa%at least 18 miles, so that to deliver the (bread required a 36-mile trip oyer six days per week. This meant a total distance of 216 miles. STATE BEARS THE LOSS If the cost of delivery could be loaded on to other works as the Prisons Department was doing, it might appear negligible, hut it was not fair competition, and was incorrect account keeping. National Park, which was the nearest railway station to the Chateau, was 13 miles away, and, according to the Minister’s statement that the master bakers had offered to deliver three times a week, that it would mean a weekly cartage of 78 miles.

Mr Langstone said lie had received a telegram from Mr Anderson, of Taumarunui, however, stating that the bakers were .prepared to deliver daily to National Park with the freight paid. This would mean a total cartage distance for six days of 156 miles, or 60 less than the Prisons Department.

The question that naturally arose was why the Chateau did not make its own bread, or, in decency, buy it from the bakers who made a living from manufacturing bread. Although the Chateau was able at present to throw some of its loss on the Prisons Department by getting bread a fraction of a penny cheaper, any loss made by the department had to be met by the State. Consequently, the State was a loser in cither case. The master bakers were justified in complaining about, unfair competition from the Prisons Department, and he was sorry to see the Minister gloss over, such manifest injustices that the Prisons Department was imposing on the master bakers by unfair competitive tactics.