CORRESPONDENCE.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 17017, 14 December 1920, Page 7

CORRESPONDENCE.

■ * DRAPERY PRICES. TO THK KUli'OU OF "THE PRESS. ,, Sir, —Tho series of leading articles in the Christchizreh "Press" has thrown much light upon tho difficult and i anxious winter trade conditions in England. These conditions, however, do not march with the conditions in Now i Ze-iland cjuite so promptly as the retail customer is apt to think after reading a Uriel cable about a fall in prices. ! Importers aro to-day lauding goods ' invoiced at 117s, that were bought at lOos and at SOs, instead of at Sis, and so on- These aro tho unpleasant tacts. 1 Speaking in tho Arbitration Court on ' Thursday, December 2nd, one of the representatives of labour stated that •'Fvciyohe knew that prices were not fallin"-" but rising. Tho workers well knew that a sudden drop in prues would be serious. They prefer to see, a gradual i fall in prices. , * * It shoufd by now bo obvious to the readers of your paper, from the reports ' von have given them of tho conditions in Australia and England, and in the United States of America, that a sudden drop in prices spells panic, and panif spells unemployment. The converse als;» is true. Demands for impossibly high : wages make production unprofitable. ; Production ceases. Unemployment re- ' suits. I3ut the closing of mills and pression in England will not help New Zealand to lower-priced goods. j Tho newspaper Press can do a genuine ' service to the whole community if they '. will seek to dispel the gradual wave of pessimism rising in the mind of the man in the street. They inspired optimism when the war broke out. There is undoubtedly a feeling abroad that a permanent set-back in prices has sot in, because the such prominence to cables currying messages of n slump in manufacturing. The condition is a normal reaction and , is .temporary. II M. Trade Commisioner's (Mr R. \\. Dalton) recently published statements show that an immediate fall in retail prices to anything approaching pre-war level must not bo looked for. Yet that j is the impression now gaining ground. Sneaking, for tho N.Z. Federation of Drapers airl Clothiers, may I point out I.Ji.it the Home market nnd the New Zealand market have been difforent all through the war. For standard lines i New Zoal-nd has paid a lower retail I figure all through the period of rising ' prices than England. EoHi increaso in price was felt in New Zealand six or nine months later than in England. New Zealand cannot benefit immediately fro-n a reduction in manufactxiring costs. Much has been made by cable correspondents of a reduction of 15 per cent, in Horrockees* calico, but Horrockrtes' calico has risen to 400 por cent, above pre-war rates. It did not jump suddenly. It took six years. The "M/mtblv .Abstract of Statistics" quotee its A.I. quality 36in at 2s 4id. Before tho war it was (3d. It cannot fall sud-. denly but only by _ degrees. An importer has iust received a letter from a firm of ladies' underclothing manufacturers stating: "Wo verv much regret being forcecT to ask for an advance of ten per cent, on your order, and we I cannot accept any further repeats n,t I these prices." A New Zoalander in ! En eland seeking for lower-priced fur- ! nishing goods, cables: "Prices all crei tonnes shadow tissues still firm," amT ! writes to his firm: "After three months , in the markets, visiting all manufac- ! turers in Great Britain..l am still sntis- ] fiod there can be no reduction in tho j priro of carpets, indeed there is more likelv to be a slierht advance .on account ! of shortness of jute." Sineo then one firm at least has aflv.on"cd prices 10 per cent. Some luxury articles -will drop. The silk market,' foi? instaneo. has been too high, and must come down. In linos., carpets, crockery, and skin gloves there is no reduction. Any fall in the price of rawmaterial cannot be reflected in the retail price of goode in Now Zealand for a year, or even longer. . English manufacturers havo shipped very large consignments to this country at tlio moment prices weTo at the peak, so. quinkly that the goods are here .before tho invoices. One reads in a newspaper that hides havo fallen in New Zealand to a low figure. It does not follow that cheaper boots are to be seen in tho shops. Why? Becauso the low figure was not accepted, and tho tanner was not able to buy any bides at that low figure. They went back into store until a better price offered. It is ttue that largo quantities of Australian boots havo been dumped in New Zealand, to tfiio detriment of our own boot industry. No one in busipess dosires to see priees any higher, and it may be assumed that a temporary lull is in evidence, but Central T""ro'pp ii an important faetor._ Its financial rehabilitation and re-entry into tlio world's markets is bound to harden prices, :f it docs not ' force them, sooner or later, to «. higher level. Tho man in business reads in his paper of falling prices, but so far t)ho low-priced goods that he can buy are not in evidence. Every business., in Now Zealand has a man at Home looking for lnwer-priced goods. Meanwhile, general drapery imports into New Zealand, as shown in tho Government Statistician's figures, are:— 1919. 1920. August ... £232,510 £1,507,4C8 September ... £510.1GG £2,040',844 October ... £431,359 £1,592,762 These figures do not include Customs dues or landing charges. Tho moment lower prices are possible, the draper and clothier will be a competitor once again, as 'he was in 1914. Sinre then, he has been the unwilling victim of economic causes beyond his control. Tho period of readjustment for New Zealand must come gradually, in the same manner in which tho increased cost of living came gradually. Anything approaching a slump in prices, at this "juncture would mean inevitable hardship to the wage-earning community, who "well know that a sudden drop in prices would be serious." —Yoifrs, etc., H. ROUTH, Secretary, New Zenland Federation of Drapers and Clothiers. • Wellington, December 11th. CITY OOTTNCTTy AND SPORTS ASSOCIATION. ' TO THE EDITOR OS "THE FRKSS." Sir,— Itecentiy Mr W. J. Walter recommended at a sports meeting, that the various eports associations should combine to elect men to represent sports on the City Council, and stated that if this was done something might bo done for sport. I am sure Mr Walter would be the j last man to desiro to convey a wrong : impression, but I think his remarks are '■ likoly to create the impression that the present and past councils have dono nothing for sport. May I have space just to place a few facts beforo the public. Both the prosent and past councils have j really done a magnificent work to help | sport and to encourage it. Tho value of out-door games is fully recognised, as the following will show. On this year's estimates £5000 was put down as tho sum required for the upkeep of tho Council's reserves and play grounds. It charges merely a nominal sum by way of rental. This has been going on for years past. The Citv Council of its own motion reduced these nominal rentals by fifty por cent., while the , senior players were away at the war, -'and so nelped, and made ifc possible for junior players to keep the clubs going. It also remitted the rates and water charges on both Lancaster and English Parks for sovrral' years. The Domains Board also took a broid view of its responsibilities, and voluntarily reduced its rents by fifty per rent, during'part of the war, and spent more than £"2000 on preparing fifteen acres in the South Park, and many thousands of pounds in the North Park, and all the while the finance of botE

bodies was strained severely for money* I consider the City Council is to ho congratulated on tho way it keeps its reserves and play grounds. There, jtp nono better kept in anv part of NruZealand, if as good, and 1 know raany good "Sports' , who rocogniso that the Council has tho interest of sport at • heart. Ido not suggest that tho Council or tho Domains Board has done too much for sport, but I do suggest tint uoth these bodies havo dono all that was possible. It must be remembered thai tlio money spent on the upkeep of tin* playgrounds was urgently needed t<_»r other objects, and it is to the credit of the Council that it lias spent so mu.li in the interest of sport. Sly object in writ ins: is because 1 tliink it would be unfair to ffie present, and past Councils, for tho surcestion to Ret abroad that nothing has boon done for snort. I have not tho .slirhttvt objections to "Snorts" being on tho CoivifH but when they cot there, thov iv'H find there are hundreds of other duties requiring their attention as well, and of equal importance—.Yours, etc.. H. HOLLAND. THE PRHrEL MINISTER'S JUBILEE. TO TIIK I.DIIDII O> •THJi I'RKSS." Sir, —In tho paragraph under tho above heading in to-day's issue of tin , "Press" there is a kindly reference to myself which I regret to find it necessary to correct- I was something considerably more than a when 1 came out in the City of Auckland lifty vears ago with tho boys named, win , now fill such honoured positions in the Dominion. 1 was one of four young ministers ivho, after loaviug college, came out to Now Zealand at tho call of what was then known as the Wosleynn Methodist Church. My companion , , wero the Rov. J. ;•>. iKmalley, now residing in Kns'nnd. th~ Rov. J. J. Lewis, n-w living in Auckland, and theTato Rev. Frank W. Isitt. Among ttio pleasures ol momorv fn connexion with that voyage to New Zealand is tho fact that included among tho members of a .Bible. Class which T conducted on Sunday afternoons wero a fntuvo prime Minister of New Zealand, tho lliVht Hon. W. V. Mas«oy, and a future Marine Superintendent of the New Zealand Shinnwi Company, Captain Rone. Another niinistor who camo out at tho snuio timo in the snmo shin was tho late Rev. IT. B. Redstone, of the Tinted Mothodist Free Churches, with Mrs. Redstone- n"<! two little, girls. Mrs Redstono resides in Wellington, and hno of tbo little trirls is n<nv the w.Ko of the "Rev. Thomas Fee, of Opawa.—Yours, *>t"., * • W. J. WILLIAMS., December 13th. SPIRTTTfiM. TO THE EDITOR O» "THE PRESS." Sir, —Will you allow mo space in your paper to speak a word of warning on the eve of Sir Conan Doylo's arrival P In the first placo I should liko to point out that if by calling hia book "Tho New Revelation , ' he intends to imply that Spiritism is new, ho and all those who follow him are greatly mistaken. Modern Spiritism is nothing else than n form of Necromancy; this has been commonly used by many nations from tho beginning even until now. But never has any good thing come frfera it; and tho higher a nation has risen in spirituality,, tho further has it departed from spiritism. Dr. Gore points out "that tho Jews were shut off from all speculation about the dead, and all anticipation of immortality, until they had learnt the character of God, and His love, bo that their belief in a future life should appear as a consequence of their belief in God, and an outcome of their,trust in Him." This also is tho teaching of our! Lord Jesus Christ, who in speaking of" the resurrection, says: "Becauso I live, : ye shall live also." The church docs not deny tho reality of spirit messages, neither does she say that spiritism is I all fraud. What then should bo our attitude towards spiritism? It seems to mo that for tho very large majority" of peoplo, wo should havo no dealings, with it. Thure are men and women: "\vho have gifts for scientific investiga-; tion. Let them examine and "prove' 1 the spirits." But most of us aro i!l- ( t fitted for thie work, and from my own i personal knowledge curiosity in seek- < xng to peer into tho secrets of tho un-j seen is full of danger, and many havoj lost their reason through it. It would , appear that epiritism is at present in tho state of scientific investigation, nndi patience is tho great mark of all truoi scientists. But in this case there seems much haste to lay .before many ignorant; and undiscerning minds hypotheses and i unwise deductions. Truly great ecient- : ists do not generally toll the publio attout their research, until they have arrived at something nearer tho truth than can be generally admitted in spiritism., Therofore I think that ordinary men and women should beware, how they meddle with or "dabble" in it. • "If spiritism were all fraud there would bo no danger;" if it were nil from the sub-conscious mind it might , not.matter, but what an awful danger to find ourselves in communication with discarnate, mischiovous spirits whom once having called up we cannot control. Moreover this peering into secrets, which God tho Father has out of His tovo for us not revealed, seems to me to be an insult to Him. To say tho least it is such a want of manners— so rude —to try and penetrate tho secrete of one's fathor by employing someone olse to find them out, by going, n« it wero, to tho back door and questioning the servants, instead of waiting patiently and trustfully until the right time is como.—Yours, etc., S. E. MAUI>E.