THE STATE OF TRADE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 276, 14 August 1908, Page 8

THE STATE OF TRADE.

VARIOUS VIEWS. WAREHOUSES AND SHOPS VISITED. : WHY A DEPRESSION EXISTS. We* hare been told by Members of Parliament and others that that sombre nightbird, " Depression," is hovoring ovor Now Zealand. A more familiar phraso is that tho country is.in the throes of a "set-back." No one, however, wears mourning on that account,' or.. regards' the future with any great" apprehension, though everyone must aware that the: year has not been as buoyant as some that havo gono before. Just how bad things aro was to somo extent ascertained by a few judicious inquiries in tho City yesterday. .

The Warehouses, j i The managers of one or two of the principal warehouses in Wellington were interviewed. " Onq-cannot blink one's eyes to the fact that things are not as~ they were last, year," said .one gentleman in charge of ,a hardware"'establishment. He however hastened, to add that this was easily accounted for, and was nothing at which to be alarmed. It-was simply the result of circumstances^' 1 In* the-first placo there had been an,exceptionally dry, summer, then had como fires,.,'lvobl had collapsed suddenly, and then the ;:banks' had.'.commenced their stringent measures;" it was remarkable things were^not worse.n.'-The last month's returns, compared with'the■ previous year's wero a little behindj and this was practically tho month:in: which .thoibanks' pressure had been felt.Still, .against, that, it was not a fair test, to.- make: a ..comparison simply between two correspondirigvmonths. An average for a period should bettaken. This month things were picking up slightly. Wool had recovered somewhat, :-and there was a prospect of the butter factories,:,which had closed early last year, opening :befdro the usual timo this

" A wholesale merchant, then, has to keep a carefuli eye uponi'doings in the country?" "Yes,, certainly, rsinco it is with the country: towns that most of the Wellington trade is done, j Wellington has. not a city trade like, Auckland; and' Christchurch, no doubt because.we have'not the samo extent of suburbs hero."'Suppbrtjhs' Statements. Very-similar views were expressed by the a,-soft-goods establishment. He also, recalled the-drought, tho fires, the drop in.wool,: and, the.pressing of the banks on the .'.'small!':, man-- The "cockatoo," being pressed''by his banker, had pulled tight tho string's of ; liis; own purse, and—more unfortunately.. still, of :Jiis wife's, and possibly his daughters': purses!'" Henco the storekeeper experienced i the pinch, and in turn gavo "smaller orders to. the wholesale houses. The stringency,'.'however, could be only temporary;-. ; and <;was-nob:' serious. The wholesale, 'houses'. would not be much' inconvenienced in.:regard to. their .stocks,, and there wero promising indications, if a good early season was- experienced." l .••• !!Th'en.the'.'country is dependent after all on - the ■ 'cockatoo' P" —The warehouseman merely smiled. • ' v.' 1 ' Not the-Buoyancy.: ' The foregoing-remarks were to a certain extent' "elucidated .By''the opinions of a third warehouse manager. '. There was not. the .buoyancyho,said; 1 :at present that therehad been; -. Tho returns for the,past month had 'not been ■ behind-those of last year—ho had .]'ust'-beeri'\lookirig over his .books—but still they "were no; better. The position was that sales'had to-be pushed. Travellers would have ■'to'tax their resources to. a greater extent, i and - create sales. 'In times of prosperity' tho .buyers asked for what they wanted; now they would have to be induced to purchase. Thiit, : of course; might mean cutting prices. 'Air'this'Svas an iiidication that money was .'not;4n;§uch''free|;jdircM4 I tidn.as, for instai^ec," 1 lastj year... '-As "far 'as the. wholesalo houses'! were concerned, it, meant that largo stocks that .had-been Maid in could not be allowed to'remain on'hand, but no apprehension was felt. . The present depression was merely a passing phase, due'chiefly to tho. banks calling in small overdrafts. There was overy reason to hope that the coming season would be a, brighter one. Where the Shoe Pinches. • But. it -.is"in tho. retail ■ trade, that tho tightest pinch of the shoo is experienced. The casual individual, who pays only when he. is , cornered, saunters easily _ through periods of prosperity and depression aliko. He will pay " some day," when his " ship comes in," and.all .will bo well; meanwhile, savs lie. a man must have, this, that, and tho other tiling, as necessarily as he must wear trouserß, and bo he goes on his way. But the .prudentr man, snail-like, draws in his horns at. the first sign of a depression. In the-parlance-of-tho sea, lie takes in his higher canvas, t'gallan' royals, royals, tops'ls—clows up,his lower.Bails, and generally takes precautions. In plain English, ho lops off, his luxuries, and prunos down his necessities... . i •

The Trade In Luxuries. What are hie -luxuries ? What can he live without P.' Jewellery, certainly; so tho pressman,hied him. to, the business establishment of one of tho leading 1 jewellers in the .city, and asked him .if ho had any complaint to make regarding tho stato of his trade. He. had:. , ; Things.were,: in his particular line —and kindred trades; in-luxuries — in a rather un-satisfactory,sway,-this winter, a state of.af;fyir& pointing,;,distinctly to tightness ' of money.,-In liis .opinion, the country was at its financial limit people were a trifle scared .of tho future, to tho extent, at least, of tightening their purso-strings, and preaching., to their families, tho gospel of " going witnout." Even a recent sale organised by him had not drawn as ho had expected, or, as it certainly would have done the previous ,'year. "A nupi})ipf; of flourishing-businesses ! in this city havo-grown merely because of tho recent period of general prosperity," 110 said. "But we orb now entering upon a period of depression, where the brains behind tho. counter, are.going to ho called upon. Thoso -who haven't got the brains will drop out, as sure as eggs." - :

.Dnjfery.ahd CtoJWijgGenerally,'a he is a man, will set the example in retrenchment by " going without " himself, befor,e c ho puts tho screw on the other members of his household. The drapery and clothing establishments say that tliero is nothing to coiriplain of. Tho head of 0110 of tho. big draperyestablishments remarket! that his .winter:trade was quite 1 up to pre,vlous;rect>rds;.. His .'dressmaking and tailoring 'departmentsfwere.maintaining a steady pressure,"and although there was no doubt that money; ,was a.l,little tight, the depression had not affccted his business. There were, of course,'a considerable number of unemployed in and< about tho icity, and if that condition, of', affairs continued very long there was no doubt; that :the .decrease in purchasing power would'ultimately- be felt by all branches of thoretailtrade.MiL,

In the"Byke-shops.V Business in the bicycle trade, according to tho head of a prominent firm of retail agents, was, on tho whole, very good. In his own caso. tho returns'showed an increase on those of tno, corresponding poriod of the previous year.' But tliero was a significant decline in the purchasing power of the working-classes,' duo, ho considered to tho number of unemployed. Cheap second-hand bicycles went a-begging; in ordinary circumstances they wouldliavo sold like hot cakes, as among tho working classes thero was usually a steady demand for cheap second-hand lines. He pointed to one of the machines in question, which to ,tlio, oyo of the Pressman, was in excellent order. ,"That bicycle," said ho, "was'brought in hero by a man who was out of work], and wanted money; I told him that he would realise moro on the machino if ho sold it in the -open market. I could give very little for it, as I would havo to add my prospective'-profits, to tho purchaso price. I couldn't give him any moro than £1 for it. Well,,hodecided to let it go for that." The Furniture' Trade. The trade in furniture was satisfactory, according to the verdict.of th& head of a..well

known cabinot-making business. Ho was an optimist, and was sover> in his comments on the pessimists.. "All /.his talk you hear about hard times, tho s.urnp that's coming, and tho general rack and rum that's lying in wait for the country, cjmes mostly from those who go about looking - for work and praying that they won't gtt it."

The Timber Combine. "Tho furniture business" ho added, "would be in a considerably bettor position than it is now, if this tinibet combine could bo broken up. It's a very tno thing isn't it, to know that kauri timber, vhich grows in Now Zealand, can bo purchased in Sydnoy at ss. 6d. less per 100 feet than you can buy it hero—ss. Gd less, after paying all froight and charges?" A Record Year. The head and front of ono leading drapery establishment was consulted : in the heat and burden of a sale. Seeing that tho Pressman had to struggle through a crowd of women buyers—who wero chattering and fighting nervously over what one supposes comes under tho generic term "bargains," taking no heed of the still, stuffy aij, redolent of the smell of new drapery it, which they battled for the best at the leist expense—he never supposed that there could be a whisper of "bad trade" there. And there was not. Trade bad? Not a bit.of it. The best year-the firm ever had —i record winter sale. Tho manager did not bhink that Wellington was affected very much, except perhaps those who made money out of money itself, as tho number of wage-earaers had not- decreased, and the spending power was unaltered. "Hot Air" Stops Building Opsrations. A Willis Street retailer in another lino said he had no cause to complain, though trade might easily be brighter than it was. This gentleman had, however, a ready instance of how. the present labour unrest was affecting a friend of his, and which ho modestly assumed might bo a contributory cause to tho out-of-work problem. . This friend had. £12000 which, a few months ago, he was prepared to expend on tho erection of a couple of houses on somo land he owned. When about to take steps in the direction indicated along came strikes and rumours of strikes, and a lot of "hot air" about the rights and wrongs of labour. After sober consideration he resolved to postpone his building scheme until matters settled down once more. Our informant is sure that this was . not the only incident of the kind, and doubtless was the reason why so many .carpenters were out of work.