BAN TO BE LIFTED

Southland Times, Issue 21650, 11 March 1932, Page 3

BAN TO BE LIFTED

OYSTERS IN CHRISTCHURCH. PRICE DISPUTE DENIED. Christchurch will again be able to enjoy Bluff oysters next Monday (states the Times). The fortnight’s ban which was placed on them by the local retailers will have expired by that time and orders have been given to the trawler owners to despatch a consignment by the train from Invercargill on Sunday night. One fishmonger absolutely denied, when speaking to a reporter, that the ban on oysters had been imposed on any other grounds than quality. The suggestion that difficulties had arisen over the question of the wholesale price was not supported by the fishmonger. It was pointed out to him that it had been stated that there had been no complaints from Auckland and Wellington regarding the quality of Bluff oysters, although a much longer period elapsed between the time they left Bluff and when they reached the markets in those cities. His answer was that the quality of the oysters sent to Auckland and Wellington was excellent; they were delivered direct to the railways from the trawlers, while the Christchurch consignment was made up of oysters which had been kept in pots under the wharves for periods of up to a week.

Oysters, he said, did not keep well for several days in pots in salt water, because there was no food for them. They certainly remained alive, but that was about all that could be said. They lost condition rapidly and the result was that once out of the water they quickly became unfit for human consumption.

As proof of his assertion that there was no dispute regarding, the price to be paid by the retailers, the fishmonger said that all the Christchurch retailers would be paying the same price next week as they were before the ban was imposed. The retail price would also be the same, he said.