RETAIL SALE OF COAL

Taranaki Daily News, 3 November 1926, Page 9

RETAIL SALE OF COAL

GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS. HINT OF INCREASED PRICE. Dunedin, Nov. 1. Comment was made to-day by Mr. A. S. Cookson on the new regulations relating to the retail sale of coal, proposed to be brought into operation by the Government from January 1 next. He said the adoption of the new regulations would involve the readjustment of bagging stands, which at present were made to carry full-sized sacks. The merchants would not only have to lower the stands, but would also have to re- " duce the circumference of them to make them fit smaller bags. If full-sized sacks were used by would be only partly filled and customers would naturally think they were getting short weight. The adoption of th" smaller bags required under the regulations would involve greater cost of filling and it would also probably take more time to deliver coal than in the bags now in use. It seemed certain that there would bo an increase in price. The present bag in use held 1871 b. It was difficult to say what was the object of the Government in arbitrarily fixing the quantity a hag should contain, because it would not simplify the testing of weights and the checking of inspectors. The merchants could not sec where the advantage lay. The bags in use now would have either to be discarded or partly filled. Twelve bags to a ton was the generally recognised way of. delivering coal throughout the Dominion. Most people ordered their coni by the quarter, a half or a whole ton and it was very convenient to send it out in three, six or twelve bags, as the case might be. Local merchants, he said, could not see that the new fixing of quantities was going to protect the public to. a greater extent as far as accurate weight wrat. It would be a serious matter if the price was increased. The "enernl notion was that matters shoo'd be 1 rt as they were, ns the public now han adequate protection.