People Must Pay.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLIII, Issue 2285, 19 February 1912, Page 6

People Must Pay.

THE INCREASED SUIPPLNG FREIGHTS. COST UF LIVING AGAIN ADVANCES. There can be no doubt that the increased freights and passenger fares which the shipping companies have deckled are necessary, owing to the increase in their expenditure clue to the larger wages now paid to seamen, will have a marked effect over trade in the whole of the Dominion, and Southland will come in for its share of the changed conditions. The opinion.-among business men, a " Times " representative learnt, was that no blame is to be thrown upon the companies for their attitude iri\ the matter, ami certainly no one ,wifh common fairness should ask them to bear the burden of the extra cost. One of the first questions asked of the head of a large mercantile firm by the si Times " reporter was whether the position would affect the farmer. That, he replied, would undoubtedly be the case for it was not to be supposed that the firms dealing largely in wool and grain were going to shoulder the extra expenditure. "The position is," he said, " that the farmer will have to be content with a smaller price for his grain and wool. For instance' the' Auckland buyers who take grain from the Bluff will not be prepared to give the farmer the price paid in former years, for although the dealer will actually have to pay the freight, it must come out of the pockets of the farmer. The same applies to- wool. The English and Continental merchants will give a price lower by the extra cost of the freighting from the Bluff to the Home ports. The rates for frozen meat have been considerably increased, and the farmer and the consumer will have to paj'." The head of a prominent linn of drapery importers said it was the old, old story of the people having to pay. When wages went up. so did the cost of living in the same proportion, and the workmen who thought they had gained much had in reality got nothing. "We are not in business as philanthropists, or as a charitable aid board. We are a business firm out with the. object of making fair profits. It doesn't matter what goods cost us; we have to make a profit over the cost. No one can blame us for that. In the present instance, however, the increase in freight on drapery is not very large, and when spread over all our lines, there will not be a very great difference in the retail cost. Still there is the increase and the people must pay." The reporter suggested that the small increase m freights just made would probably be repeated very soon, as the sum involved would hot cover the shipping companies' losses. " It's all the same to us," he replied. " No matter how great the increase becomes, the consumer must pay for if." An importer of general produce stated that although it could not be definitely stated what the actual results of the increased freights would have oii the price of commodities, however little or great the increase was", the consumer would have tu pay. He did not think that the extra 2s (id per ton to be placed on the present rates would have the immediate effect of raising prices, and until another increase was made in (he wholesale price, if; would be impossible to raise the juices of such goods as sugar, tea, and rice—at any rate, the price of the individual pound of these commodities would not be increased. But if another increase in freight were made in the near future on the top of this one, the retailer would of necessity rai* his prices.