WOMENS AND CREDIT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 4579, 7 June 1917, Page 3

WOMENS AND CREDIT.

SOME /POINTS WHICH NEED CONSIDERATION.

Existence lias reached such a nar-i-oav circle that it is difficult on occasion to realise Avhether further economies can be effected Avithout producing Avastage or extravagance in Another direction, (writes ' Mrs Peter David in the London Daily Mail). Ihe suggestion that drapers should cease to give credit is rather of this nature. There are aspects to the credit system Avhich deserve consid-> oration before another edict comes to cripple it. Ear from the Avoman with credit being the more extravagant, they are very likely, because of this credit, less inclined to spend. The constant use of the cheque-hook often means A r ery little money in the actual purse. ’ •

It frequently happens, ns a great number of women can testify, that in passing a shop a woman sees in the Avindow some small thing she likes. She has not sufficient‘ready money with which to pay for it, and the shop happens to be one where she has! no account. ’There are two courses open to her. One is to go Avithout; the other to enter the building, make the- purchase, give references, and have the article delivered. This, m tho present congestion of shop work, may entail considerations extending over a considerable time, and if the customer fires in the country and is staying in a city she is obliged to giVo two addresses. NEEDLESS EXPENSE.

Such is the long story which flashes through tlie mind of tho woman Avith credit and tempted to stop by the way. The probable result is she goes on, while the cash customer Avill probably purchase the article. Were this convenient credit system to be abolished for people living in the country it Avould mean expense to the homo, work for the Post Office, and printing and paper making for many more postal orders and penny stamps. As it is, to-day a postcard is sufficient for an order, Avhen according to the suggested new regulations it Avould require notepaper, envelope, postal order, and a penny stamp. All this trouble to busy Avomen who live far from a post office would not reduce the purchase of necessities. It Avould make for Avaste and extraA ragance on the one hand, even if it limited tho buying of small luxuries 011 the other.

Much abuse is hurled at women for extraA'agance, but glitter is always seen before gold, and the Fcav luxurious people there are about increase in proportion in the eyes of the critical onlooker. Women, on the whole, are anxious, especially when they cannot move-far out into the. world, to do their hit. It happens they have been evolved on certain lines and they haA r o never been asked to study the secrets of commerce or the economic points which make for its success. There are, however, some things which Avomen could do, and there is not the slightest doubt, if the value of the action only be pointed out to them, that they would readily perform it. One of such is the common-sense necessity of paving accounts when they come in. Sometimes it happens that the.hill is so small it is not Avorth bothering about; it can Avait another month or so. The month passes. Meanwhile the clerk has to send in a reminder “To account rendered.” This means' stationery, A’alliable paper, printers’ labor, stamp, time, and xiost'office work.

WASTED LABOR. Everybody knows the value per hour of labor nowadays, and it really is not fair to the tradesmen, nor to the country, that this unnecessary trouble should he put on any one. Tliis is probably one of the reasons why the question of credit has arisen ; but the public Avoid'd much more appreciate it if they Avere told the cause of such suggested prohibitions and given an opportunity to mend their Avavs.

Again, it is unreasonable that shops should be expected or allowed to retain more labor than is absolutely necessary. Comments are oceasionallv made on some particular shop having numerous assistants gossiping round. The very people who make these comments are often tho greatest sinners in the matter of wasting time over “trying on” and “approbation.” Every trader, if he he honest, will confess that- there are numbers of peonle who have things sent on approval who never intend to huv them. This approbation business, unless it be sincere, is a very discreditable amusement. It- means that somebody’s time must be occupied in despatching. delivery and receiving hack. If statistics of this waste of time were kept they would show hours of wasted labor that would iust now appal even the most profligate. Yet finite naturally this situation has not occurred to some women who try on clothes, possibly for the sake of something, to do. sometimes as a method of seeing if they could he copied, and learning the means to that end. . Alterations in these and similar directions, if practised by the public, would no doubt put an end to this inconvenient suggestion of doing away with women’s credit.