THE 'SUNDAY STAR' .
SIR, May I offer a reply to your note on ti publication of the new Sunday Star, as Your comment, one-sided as it is, gives a wrong le pression of the facts, which, stated briefly, are Hulton Press asked for membership of the Newspaper Proprietors Association in order that that they might use their distribution facilities ,They were told that they would be admitted to membership only if they did not supply the retail newsagent at prices less than those charged by the NPA for its similar publication • Can it be reasonably argued that it is an exec' cise of monopoly tendencies that an association should make this stipulation while agreeing to admit a potentially strong competitor to the
use use of facilities created and maintained at verY
h
great expense by them? The retail trade has been dissatisfied for many years with its terms for Sunday papers and has made many protests to the NPA. They are considerably worse the° the terms for weekday publications. It therefore told Hulton Press that it would not handle the new publication unless the terms were betto These terms were fixed by the NPA and were not the result of negotiation. Is it an exercise of monopoly that a retailer should refuse t handle a product if he is not satisfied with the suggested margin of profit? I am quite sure that if Hulton Press would produce and distribute the Sunday Star at the reasonable terms the retail trade has suggested more than 28,000 newsagents, the membership of our Federation, would welcome this com- petition and would give it maximum support.— Yours faithfully,
A. W. KINGSLEY
National Vice-President National Federation of Retail Newsagents, Booksellers and Stationers
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