FRUIT STANDS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 29, 4 February 1932, Page 12

FRUIT STANDS

SHOPKEEPERS' COMPLAINT

DISPLAY OF GOODS

The attitude of "Wellington fruit shop proprietors to the street barrows controlled by Indians was the subject of a statement issued last evening by the "Wellingtou\ Retail Fruit Traders' Association. ■

The statement replies to a suggestion made on behalf of the "Hindu fruiterors that the protests against the barrows were being fostered by only a small section of the shopkeepers. The retort is that the case for the shopkeepers was brought before tho City Council recently by a deputation from the fruiterers' organisation backed by the Wellington Retailers' Association, a body, with 170 shopkeeping members, and by the Ratepayers' Association, as the mouthpiece of about 600 members. "Wellington fruit shopkeepers would not have forced attention to the unfair competition of the street barrows if it had not been for 'pinpricking' action against fruiterers who have displayed fruit near their doorways," the statement adds. "The shopkeeper is denied the display privileges of the barrowmen, and attempts are being made to enforce by-laws which put the shop at a disadvantage. The shops pay high rents and rates, and they have long contended with tho barrowman who splits the custom and brings about the evils of over-competition." Tho statement challenges the contonlion that fruit is sold cheaper from tho barrows, and it is remarked that although the conditions of the licence require that fruit shall be displayed within the confines of tho barrows, the majority of street sellers employ various devices for extending the stands. "Tho whole policy of street stands requires review, and if the working tinsmith or any other vendor of wares is denied a place at the kerbside, it ia not fair to subject the fruiterer to this class of competition," the statement concludes. V • -