"Skyrocket" price charge refuted

Taupo Times, Volume 23, Issue 49, 20 June 1974, Page 1

"Skyrocket" price charge refuted

Taupo retailers "vehemently refute" an allegation made by the senior borough health and building inspector, Mr R. K. Ponga, that prices skyrocket during holiday periods. The president of the Taupo Retailers' Association, Mr G. Melville, said the -inspector's statement was a "blanket assertion." "After consulting several

retailers the only possibility Mr Ponga could be referring to was the sale of perishable goods," he said. "These goods are auctioned and to obtain supplies retailers have to buy at the current market price." He said that while these goods may appear to be dearer at holiday times this was not only applicable to Taupo. "This is a national problem and one which is governed solely by supplv and demand." A Taupo jeweller who has had experience as a motelier and as a grocer

said making goods more expensive during holiday periods had never applied to anything in which he had been involved. The manager of Woolworths, Mr M. S. White, said that he relied on Taupo people for business. All retailers had to live 12 months in the town and they could not afford to fleece visitors and the public at one time of the year and then expect their business the rest of the time. *Retailer challenges Mr Ponga — Page 9.