County issues few licences for hawking

Taupo Times, Volume 23, Issue 54, 9 July 1974, Page 3

County issues few licences for hawking

The Taupo county health and building inspector, Mr W. E. Watters, ; suspects the hawking trade is dying out. Last year, the county issued only nine hawker's licences and two mobile shop licences — a substantial reduction on previous years. Fees for the licences amounted to $169, which .was only $27 less than the previous year, when 26 licences were issued. ^ "It is hardly likely that the increased licence fee is acting as a deterrent. In the absence of any qi^iderice to suggest that there are any unlicensed hawkers operating in the county, it must be assumed that this method of earning a living is losing favour," Mr Watters said. He said the number of complaints in respect of hawkers diminished each year, and they were not a real problem in the Taupo area. One of the mobile shops , operating in the county sells drapery and clothing, while the other sells bakers' *small goods, confestinery, soft drinks and cigarettes, in conjunction with a bread delivery business. Four of the licensed hawkers sell fruit and /egetables — mainly water melons and sweetcorn they grow themselves. Two hawkers are licensed to sell fish and the other three carry household goods, such as pots and pans, ice cream and soft drinks, and candy floss. In his annual report, Mr * Watters criticised the delay in introducing new legislation for established food v premises. "The Health Department are still wedded to their food premises evaluation scheme and plan to conduct a national survey this year as part of their five-yearly programme. "But this has limited value, as food premises frequently change .hands. ~ Within a very short time, the standard can deteriorate or improve quite *dramatically — and it often does," he said. 1 "In practically every case where food premises have changed hands in the Taupo county within the past year, there has been an improvement in standards. This can be attributed in part to the fact that we go and talk to the proprietor of shops that change hands as soon as possible after we become aware of the change." Mr Watters said a

greater number of complaints regarding unsound or contaminated food had been received than in past years. "In every case, the alleged contamination of food has occurred before it was delivered to our area and the complaint has had to be referred to the local authority health inspector where the food was manufactured, and/or the Medical Officer of Health," he said. "Standards of food premises in the Taupo county bear favourable comparison with those in other parts of the country." On the subject of fire hazards, Mr Watters said the problem was increasing slightly each year. Of the 95 notices to clear land of fire hazards issued last year, 46 were in Mangakino, 14 at Kinloch, 18 at Acacia Bay, nine at

Turangi and eight at Five jj Mile Bay. = "The degree of com- \ pliance with notices has \ been good, but some diffi- j culty is experienced in : convincing people that an j untidy section is not neces- j sarily a fire hazard," he ; said. Mr Watters said hepatitis infection was so widespread that many inspec- i tors questioned the value of j investigating cases. Some medical practi- j tioners also appeared to j question the value of noti- j fying it. "It is true that it is j seldom possible to trace the j source of the infection, but in some cases merely visit- j ing the home of a patient ! leads to improvement in j housing conditions. In all cases, it is possible to discuss basic hygiene with a responsible member of the family," he said.