The Hawaiian gazette., 1918-03-12
H|SHSTA[lNEN5, : ).
'ACCUSEDBYlDW
OF FRIGHTENING
Have CONSERVATION, Ne. Says, TO
NfDeteat Ratings Of Food Admin ,
= istrstioa and Grab BIG Profits
MAY BE TAKEN
Z TO ABATE PRACTlSeS
Maximum Prices Char1ed Though
Supply b PlentituI; No Federal
Auctioneer on the Job

I Attempts on the part Of stall men
at the 6sh market to upset the rulings
Of the federal food administration ard
to derive profits TO which they are not
entitled Under the lately imposed fed.
eral regulations, which are charged by
Eben Low Of the Vigilance Corps com
mittee on fish, may lead to proceedings
a. soon ~ the facts ean be laid before
the chlefOf the local administration.
Now, that fsh have become more
plehtifui at the fish market, Mr.. Low
says the stall men appear to have made
15mbinal;oh Oh some sort under which
they IRE still working various plans to
defeat the ruling Of the authorities.
And the People ray
One case in point, which Mr.. Low
cites, 10 that Of an instance which oc-
cuffed Saturday, when a large supply
Of mahimahi came into the market
which should, have been sold at cOnsid-
| erably under the maximum price stip-
uldfed, on account of the large quau-
| tity which arrived. Instead of this
the stall men seized upon the fish at
a previously agreed price which was
, lower fhan the maximum price to the
protluesr aad- sold them at the maximum
prize until they were discovered and
stopped. IN this wav, Mr.. Low asserts,
they took two cents per pound from
the public to which they were not en-
titled. The Rsh were bought at six
cents per, pound and put on sale Rt
ei1ht cents as chGlked up for the
maSimufA. y T..
e'This happened chiefly because Of
the fact thai the administration has
been unable o>put on its own auction.
eef, owing TO the Fact that the present
brokers' city license win not expire
until June. 1" said Mr.. Low. "Thus
the federal pepreSfhtative who is ex.
peSted to, enforce the law of supply
and demand az the market beneath
the maximum eannot oversee thpse
transactions. Tn this case the city
iuspeetor, happened to be at the other
end Of the market when the fish came
IN and did not catch the fraud until it
had been perpetTated on the public. -
wants Another Inspector
iMr. Low will take steps to try to
have an additional city fish overseer
placed ut the market at least until
tke time when, the federal officer can
be instaIleds He says II viii be thec-
lessary to have somebody from now on,
at the market who win have nothing
to- do but attend to the observation Of
THE price system. Thu can be done
Id argues ast lohg~as the brokers are
pfStected by their city licenses from
FEDERAL supervision of auctions.
Mr. Low and several of the fish men
az tke market eomplained yesterday
EtkRt the mnllet.arS being brought from
thu ponds to the. market in quantities
that are far from normal ana much
Ebel6w theS demand:a 20 M Low declared
that he believes the pond men are de-
liberately boarding the mullet, They
make all sorts Of excuses he says, why
the mullet are not'forthcomiug to meet
the demand, but she3 il convinced that
they are attempting to hold their fish
back until they receive some sort OF
ruling in the matter of gradings. The
food administration. has steadfastly re
fused to set prices for lean mullet and
other prices for Fat mullet on the
grounds that II this is done all mullet
! viii be claimed to be fat.