["The Fish Trade", Daily News (Perth, WA), Wednesday 03 February 1915, page 5]

THE FISH TRADE

STATE RETAIL STALL

Possible Extension

INTERESTING PARTICULARS.

Several leading wholesale fish merchants, and possibly through them, other leading public men, have recently been interested in the operations of the Government fish stall at the Perth Markets. It has been suggested that the stall has done practically nothing in the all-important matter of supplying greater quantities of available food to the people at a less price. A 'Daily News' representative inquired into the matter at some length to-day, and collected the appended information. After interviewing the Colonial Secretary (Mr. J. M. Drew, M.L.C.), the officer in charge of the fish stall at the markets, and the chief inspector, F. Aldrich, and the secretary of the Fisheries Department, Mr. K. Bolton, it appeared that the stall was doing a

Highly Satisfactory

trade; always remembering that it was at no time intended to in any way make it a State enterprise, and never to endeavour to make money, by the work it was doing. The Government contend that it opened the stall only to cheapen fish, and the officials named claim that it has accomplished all that was expected of it, whilst returning sufficient revenue to cover expenses. The 'Fynd' was Chartered by the Government as she was not engaged in whaling, and she has now completed five trips to and from Sharks Bay, bringing down between three and four tons of finny prey each trip. At first she was remaining in Sharks' Bay until her hands caught a cargo, but recently the Sharks Bay pearlers, out of work as a result of the war, have been paid 2d. per pound for fish. This, Mr. Bolton says,

Pays the Government,

as the boat does not have to stay in the Bay now, and can therefore run more frequently and regularly. All of the fish has come down in excellent condition; since the stall was started, the officers have not received a single complaint. They are particularly proud of this fact, as at the inception of the scheme many doubts were expressed as to whether the small fish would stand the journey. These doubts have been set at rest. The only difficulty the stall has to face is the fact that so far the Fynd has failed to bring down all the fish that the public require. As recently announced, Mr. Drew is about to visit Kalgoorlie (probably on Friday), and he will investigate the possibilities of

Extending the Business

to the Eastern Goldfields. The only trouble in view, according to the responsible officers, is the question of providing an increased supply, and it is felt that a further extension of their methods of obtaining a supply will then certainly be necessary. It is probable that even without the Kalgoorlie trade, this matter will have to be seriously considered at an early date. With regard to the price of fish, the officials claim the stall has had a big effect. For instance, the stall prices are:--Whiting, mullet, bream, and tailer, 5d per lb.; schnapper (whole), 7d., and cutlets, 9d. For a time at Christmas, although the stall continued selling at these prices, the wholesalers were above it, and a

Quantity of Schnapper

was wholesaled at up to 1s 2d per lb. Some of the stalls were now cutting below the State price--this the Government welcomed, and hoped would continue. The Fynd was now taking about eight or nine days to complete a trip--five days going and coming, and about four days in the bay. The chief difficulty was to cope with the 5 o'clock rush--four men were kept going breathlessly for an hour or so then, and unfortunately they were hardly able to cope with the demand.

To wind up with, Mr. Drew said:--"Our difficulty is to get enough fish for the demand. We thought we had arranged for more fish than the stall would sell, and so we erected a smoke house to treat the surplus. So far, there has been no surplus--we have had to buy in the open market to the open market to keep the stall going. Then, also, we have to consider that so far we have been

Unable to Sell

in Fremantle or on the fields, but that is coming. It is absurd to say we have not cheapened the price of fish--everybody knows that we have. Every body knowing anything about the prices are familiar with the fact that, should we run short of schnapper, for instance, it would go up to 1s. 2d. or ls. 3d. the same day or that following. To show what we have we have done, the stall has been opened eight weeks; the total customers number 17,149, which makes an average number weekly of 2,143."

1915-02: govt claiming that the venture was breaking even

unemployed shark bay pearlers paid 2d per lb to catch when needed

fish arrived in good condition

plans to extend programme to goldfields

but even without this extension, not enough fish being caught

govt held prices even when wholesaled went above 1s. 2d. per lb, with the result that some of the catch was wholesaled at that price

govt caught out by insufficient fish:

"So far, there has been no surplus--we have had to buy in the open market to the open market to keep the stall going."