PASSED-ON PRIMAGE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 82, 3 October 1929, Page 12

PASSED-ON PRIMAGE

It is absurd to say that the primage duty.ot 2 per cent, will not be massed on " remarked the chairman of directors of a latge. Wellington; company to a representative of '"The Post." It is absurd, he repeated, because "we have already done it, and other companies are doing it, and inustdo it wherever they can pass it on. If'it is not passed on on some goods which may not stand it, more.than 2 per cent, is put on to goods that will,1 in order to make the adjustment. The primage of 1 per cent, was a war duty, and no doubt justifiable in the' circumstances, but' no one regarded it as.affixture, and certainly never contemplated it being doubled long after, it should have been abolished. With a:margin onl some imported goods of, say, 5 per cent., how is it possible for any business firm worthy of that description to meet an extra 2 per cent, primage? Of course, it must be passed on to the public, and it is so already, and being paid by the public." Some merchant kousts dealing in special and popular lines coming through one channel have received with mixed feelings a circular from their principals intimating that they will be charged 2 per cent, primage on all'imported goods, but they will not be permitted to pass it on to retailers. Some merchants are understood to be meeting the extra age by allowing proportionately less discounts 'to their customers.