DRY CANTEEN PRICES

Southland Times, Issue 23991, 5 December 1939, Page 8

DRY CANTEEN PRICES

Complaints Made By Soldiers LABOUR COSTS A FACTOR (United Press Association) V/ELLINGTON, December 4. Complaints by some of the troops in the Ngaruawahia military camp about the prices charged in the dry canteen there were referred to by the Minister of Defence (the Hon. F. Jones) in an interview this evening. He said the profits earned by the canteens in the camps were paid into the regimental funds for the benefit of the men in camp. Since the establishment of canteens about six weeks ago £lOOO had been handed over to these funds. “As far as is possible every endeavour is made to keep canteen prices down,” said Mr Jones, “but it has to be remembered that labour costs are higher in canteens than in chain stores, solely because adult labour is engaged in the camps whereas the large proportion of that in the stores is juvenile. I think it will be agreed that the men are not being exploited as they were in 1914-18. All profits are being retained for the benefit of the men and that would not be the case if the canteens were handed over to private enterprise.” Mr Jones said the authorities would be glad to have specific cases of high prices so that an investigation could be made to ascertain the reason why the price of the article or commodity concerned was higher than that ruling in the towns. BEER BOYCOTTED AT NGARUAWAHIA RESTRICTED PURCHASE OF TICKETS (Special to The Times) AUCKLAND, December 4. Objecting to the issue of only one wet canteen ticket at a time, a large number of the troops at Ngaruawahia camp declared both wet and dry establishments “black” on Thursday. Members of the New Zealand Engineers are stated to have provided a picket, several soldiers who ignored the decision were “booed” as they went in, and at one stage stones were thrown on the roof. The boycott was lifted the next night when the soldiers were allowed to purchase two tickets at a time, thus giving them the right to secure two glasses of beer. Those who were a party to the boycott objected to having to go outside and wait in the queue before they could obtain a second ticket from the cash register at the door. It was stated that before the men were paid last week there had been no such restriction on the number of tickets that could be bought at the one time. However, after they received their pay they found that they could get only one ticket when entering the canteen. The canteen opened after the evening mess at 6.30, and an hour later both the wet and dry departments were declared “black” by many of the troops, although another large proportion of them refused to be concerned in the trouble.

Soon after the picket had been placed by some of the engineers, officers took control and the men were marched back to their lines. An order prohibiting the placing of pickets was read on Friday.