New Britain herald., 1919-06-24
24,OOO TONS OF ICE
 ARE NEEDED HERE
Supply Is Controlled by Berkshire
 Co.,, Investigators Say


 ! prices charged for ice in this city was l brought out last evening at the meet [ ing of the dealers held in Mayors | Quigley's office. Prices ranging from
 so cents to $1, and over, were being ] charged for ice, it was, learned. It was also brought out that the city sup 1 ply is practically controlled by the | Berkshire company and should the | concern carry out it's reported threat
 to cut off New Britain from it's supply
 this city vii face an ice shortage dur ing the coming months.
 The meeting was presided over by
 Alderman H. P. Richards, chairman of
 CTS present were Oscar Doerr, Herman i E. Doerr, Jr., Henry Bailey Julius 1 Schultz, Harris Brown and Elmer { E. Austin, Councilmen Wall. King, 1 Eichstaedt and Mayor Quigley were 1 also present and took part in the | discussions.
 24,OOO Tons of Ice Needed. In reply to a question as to the ! present supply of ice in this city, MT. | Doerr of the New Britain Ice corpor- | ation said that his concern had about 5000 tons on hand. The company, l he continued bought a supply in the country and would have purchased
 more if they had had available funds
 The corporation is receiving a carload of ice each day from the Berkshire company. MT. Doerr also stated that he had no assurance from the Berk- shire company that the ice supply would continue coming in Mayor Quigley asked MT. Doerr an estimate fn, ain during the season. MT. Doerr re- piled 1000 tons was fair estimate for ! a season, or approximately 100 tons daily. He said that ice is retailed about so cents per 100 pounds MT. Bailey of the Baily Ice company repeated his conversation with MT. Brown, manager of the Berksire Ice company which he had last week. He said that MT. Brown informed him 1 to look for his supply elsewhere and that the price per ton in the meantime
 would be boaster s2 per ton The req
 son given by MT. Brown for discon-
 tinuing the supply was that other smaller communities were in greater need of ice than New Britain
 MT. Doerr when asked concerning
 the price paid for his ice refused to
 answer, saying that he believed this
 an unfair question.
 $1.1O Charged for Ice. Herman E. Doerr. Jr., said he was
 obtaining his ice supply from the Berkshire Ice company at the rate or four and five carloads each week. lie told the mayor that he had been paying S6 per ton for his ice and substantiated MT. Bailey's statement that the company had notified him that the price would be raised s2 per ton commencing June 16 An ad- ditional charge would be made for freight bringing the price over sS per ton. He has, however, not had to pay the higher price yet and had therefore not advanced his price He Is charging the dealers 55 cents, he
 said. His retail price at the store house is 70 cents. MT. Doerr also informed the committee that it is his understanding that some of the dealers are selling ice for s11O hundred pounds.
 Harris Brown said that he is se- curing his ice from the Berkshire
 company and is paying sS per ton Tor it. He said that when the ice arrived in this city, he was actually paying $14 per ton, due to the shrink age. His retail price is S1 per ton. |, he said.
 Urges Railroad Investigation: MT Doerr urged the ice committee to investigate the traffic conditions on the railroads. Due to the poor rail- road service, the shrinkage this year IS worse than ever, he said Before the war, he continued, his company received a carload of ice from Lake Congamond in a day. Now it takes two days to get a car through The delays are caused in PlainvilIe and in the local yard
 Mayor Quigley inquired as to the adVlsa bflity of establishing a general
 delivery in the city. MT. Doerr re-
 piled that it was too late in the sea-
 son to carry out this plan.
 A report of the investigation of the
 ice committee will be made at the ad- Journed meeting of the common coun- Gil on Wednesday evening. Although reports have been made to the con- trary, Mayor Quigley brought out at
 last evenings session that this city is entirely dependent upon the Berk- shire company for it's supply At the |