Post by NZBC on Apr 5, 2010 8:26:21 GMT 12
UNDERSOLD.
THE CHINESE FRUIT TRADE. WHERE THE CAUCASIAN COMES IN. Chinese fruifc and vegetable dealers havo a fairly strong hold over the retail fruit and vegetable trade in Wellington, Auckland, and Dunedin, but in Christchurch he has found it hard to make any headway in the trade. There havo been scenes, and that recently. Members of the police were called ifi and larrikins turned out. In Wellington it is all different. Here the Chinese fruit and vegetable seller is supreme, or, rather, he was, because he is now being undersold. In Auckland fruit was very dear, very much dearer than it ought to be, because of the abundance of the orchard crops which, somehow, never seemed to relieve the city dwellers'' fruit hunger, and, moreover, over-production involved the grower in loss. This is one of those hitherto unfathomable mysteries of economics which some people are so often chided for failing to understand. But Auckland was a cheaper place for thepound-at-a-time purchaser of fruit than Christchurch, where there were no Chinamen. Wellington, however, was better served than the other cities. Fruit •was and is cheaper here; also the Chinese dealer is (or was) supreme. But he is being cut into by the European shopkeeper. He has been charged with underselling. In fact, that is one of the many things of which he is accused by the Caucasian. But now he is being undersold, the ground is being excavated beneath his feet, and by the very people he is charged with ruining by selling at a ridiculously narrow margin of profit, profit upon which uo white man can live. "Take it from me/ T said an Alienstreet auctioneer to a representative of The Post a year ago; "but for the Chinese, people here would have to pay a very long price for fruit and vegetables." Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 69, 21 March 1912, Page 11 paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=EP19120321.2.117&cl=search&srpos=13&e=-------100--1----0chinese+fruit+auckland-all&st=1
THE CHINESE FRUIT TRADE. WHERE THE CAUCASIAN COMES IN. Chinese fruifc and vegetable dealers havo a fairly strong hold over the retail fruit and vegetable trade in Wellington, Auckland, and Dunedin, but in Christchurch he has found it hard to make any headway in the trade. There havo been scenes, and that recently. Members of the police were called ifi and larrikins turned out. In Wellington it is all different. Here the Chinese fruit and vegetable seller is supreme, or, rather, he was, because he is now being undersold. In Auckland fruit was very dear, very much dearer than it ought to be, because of the abundance of the orchard crops which, somehow, never seemed to relieve the city dwellers'' fruit hunger, and, moreover, over-production involved the grower in loss. This is one of those hitherto unfathomable mysteries of economics which some people are so often chided for failing to understand. But Auckland was a cheaper place for thepound-at-a-time purchaser of fruit than Christchurch, where there were no Chinamen. Wellington, however, was better served than the other cities. Fruit •was and is cheaper here; also the Chinese dealer is (or was) supreme. But he is being cut into by the European shopkeeper. He has been charged with underselling. In fact, that is one of the many things of which he is accused by the Caucasian. But now he is being undersold, the ground is being excavated beneath his feet, and by the very people he is charged with ruining by selling at a ridiculously narrow margin of profit, profit upon which uo white man can live. "Take it from me/ T said an Alienstreet auctioneer to a representative of The Post a year ago; "but for the Chinese, people here would have to pay a very long price for fruit and vegetables." Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 69, 21 March 1912, Page 11 paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=EP19120321.2.117&cl=search&srpos=13&e=-------100--1----0chinese+fruit+auckland-all&st=1