IMPORTERS' FATE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 135, 5 December 1939, Page 11

IMPORTERS' FATE

MANY SOLD UP.

OFFICE FITTINGS GO

Many importing houses in New Zealand, whose principals had built up valuable, overseas agencies over a long period, have closed their doors recently, . and auction salerooms have told the tale of their fate, large numbers of1 desks, typewriters, and office fittings ■ having been disposed of under the hammer in recent weeks. This situation is an inevitable development of the present policy of imports control, particularly since the ;' pressure on the shrunken London bal- | ances has compelled a serious curtailment of overseas orders. The classes of \ business affected cover a fairly wide range, those most severly hit being, of course, the general importers whose whole existence depended upon supplies of goods from abroad. Their only course is to close down and go out of business. Others who mingled a certain amount of purely New Zealand internal trading with their overseas activities have been able to keep going as one-man concerns or with severely depleted staffs. Some of these, however, have found the obl stacles too formidable arid have gone | into other pursuits. ; The type of business most recently Ito suffer is the woolbroker, whose ! operations have been practically nullij fled as a result of the bulk purchase jby the British Government of New Zealand's complete wool clip—with the j exception of a few whose services have been titilised by the Govern- . ment in a classing capacity before the j wool is shipped away. One dfealer in this category threw his office furniture and fittings, into the market last week and left for fresh fields. j POSITION SERIOUS. ! ! "The position has become serious," declared one man who has had the handling of a great deal of this equipment, and ,who discussed the general situation today. "Many of these men have spent a lifetime in building their businesses, and have sunk thousands of pounds in travelling the world for agencies. Some of them had large buildings and big staffs and had trained their families to carry on the place for them. The future now holds nothing, at least for a long time." Importers who have found trading conditions impossible have migrated to a variety of callings. Some of them have gone on the land, chiefly those who were in a substantial position financially or who were able to salvage their businesses in time. Others have taken up lines with a purely' New Zealand bearing, but here again the local manufacturer is now having his difficulties as well.. as. his importing colleague. J A certain number have drifted into j Government jobs of different types, I while . others —some of them hitherto occupying well-paid and responsible positions in commerce—are now to be seen in the red and blue uniform of attendants' at the Centennial Exhibition. The closing of import houses, it is stated in business circles, must necessarily continue as stocks diminish, and after Christmas when the goods now being drawn on for seasonal purposes have been used, the salesrooms will again reflect the shattered plans and thwarted ambitions of those who have been compelled to give in. .