TOPICS FOR TRADESMEN

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXIII, Issue 15920, 4 May 1912, Page 8

TOPICS FOR TRADESMEN

[From Our ConOßEsrojfDiarr.] LONDON, March 16BUSINESS TRANSFERS. A method by which the Grocers' Federation might act for tho introducing of intending buyers of businesses to intending purchasers or vice versa was suggested at a meeting of the Bradfo-d Association last week. The proposer of this novel scheme said that, apart from those who wished to act rid c>f a business which was a failure, and in which fraudulent methods were often adopted, there were many genuine reasons for a change. A man might wish to enlarge tho opportunities for the exercise of his business capabilities, another might like to take a quieter business, while in a third instance health reasons might constitute tho motive. The present method practised by somo traders was to inform the travellers who visited their shoes of their wants, but that was a slow" and tedious method. Agents were anxious to arrange tho transfer, but the words "no agents" which often were in an advertisement proved that that method was not always satisfactory. The proposer's idea was that when a man, say in Bradford, wished to change, ho should inform the secretary of tho local association, who would communicate with the Federation, and through that body the intending transferers could be put into direct communication with each other. To be wholly successful, however, the scheme would have to be national in character. It was urged that tho Federation had already so many important matters on hand that such a scheme would absorb too much timo and labour. Another trader suggested that shopkeepers could make their wants known through the ordinary channel of advertisements, and that the replies could be sent to the secretary of the local association, who would then obtain from the secretaries of tho associations in towns from which those replies came particulars as to bona fides. In that manner an intending buyer or seller would obtain sufficient information to guard his interests. This mot with approval. MILLERS AS BAKERS.

Bakers in the Midlands arc making strong protests against the growing practice on tho oart of some millers to bake and sell bread. At a meeting of bakers in Birmingham the other day the matter was fully .discussed, and it was stated that the practice first cropped «n owing to a firm of millers taking over the debentures, and lator tho business, of a firm of bakers. Other cases had occurred recently. V\ hen millers, in 1860 and 1867, regulated the price of bread, bakers were under considerable difficulties, and it was the knowledge gained by the experiences at that time that made bakers to-day nervous with regard to' the growth of the practice referred to. If tho system increased, said one baker, the men who might be termed " the middle of tho trado." would bo compelled by the cost of production and distribution to seek self-nrotection in amalgamation. Tho meeting pnssed a resolution recommending members of the bakery trade not to deal with those, firms of millers that baked or sold bread.

SELLING IN SETS. Pricing articles of men's wear in sots is the latest notion put before outfitters. The suggestion is ( that men customers going into a shop to buy ono or Wo articles are often open to persuasion of the right sort, and if they have put before them an attractive outfit including all the essential articles of attire which the outfitter stocks, grouned together under a stated "rice for the whole, the chances are that a good stroke of business will be dono. Tho scheme arose as a feature in a seasonal sale, but it proved so successful that it has been adopted for normal times in somo instances. As an example of the grouping, ono retailer offers a sot consisting of a couple of ties, a couple of shirts, two pairs of hose, and half a dozen collars, at the inclusive price of fourteen shillings the set complete. Selling in groups or sets is already a successful feature of many businesses, and there would seem to bo no reason why equal success should not attend tho practice in the outfitting business. ADULTERATED LEATHER.

The complaints that boots and shoes sold at a cheap price will not keep out the wet are frequently made to retailors, who are often expected by the aggrieved customer to roplace the article. The buyer seldom stops to consider that a growing demand for cheap goods is almost certain to be met with a growing supply of inferior, albeit smart-looking, footwear. The retailer is not, in most cases, to blame for the lack of durability of the goods he sells at these rates, for he is in a measure at the mercv cf the manufacturer, who in turn has 'to deal in leather cut down to the last possible degree of genuineness as a result of the craze for cheapness. An analysis recently made of American leather showed the following result:—Moisture, 23.6 per cent; ash, 13.61 per cent; extractive matter.Jd.o per cent; leather substances, 40.3 per cent. The extractive matter was chiefly glucose. The result of using such stuff, was, according to a leading authority, positively appalling, and the footwear made of it could never be dry under prdinary conditions in such a climate as ours. To wear boots made of a substance like Vthis was to invito pneumonia and phthisis. He therefore suggests that all makers of leather coming upon the British market should be required to stamp their production, under safeguarding penalties, with the amount and feature or adulteration, if any. FOOTWEAR PRICES. A retailer writes regarding the difficulty lie, in common with fellow-trades-men in the same line, suffers owing to one aspect of the craze for cheap boots. The public, he says, have become educated into believing that certain retail prices are fixed for all tune. purchasers become accustomed to paying bo much and no more for a certain typo of footwear, and refuse to pay more. It is not much use for the retailer to point out that leather happens to be dearer, and that in consequence lie has either to pay more for the or to be prepared to do with an mfenor article The customer will not be con- j vinced. The only alternative, to supplying an inferior article is for the retailer" to cut his profits, and those.already posse, but fittie WW* toaHow c ifdlttvlnced i f atv%^| e advanccd says the writer, and it the manufacturer has to take sixpennyworth of value out of the boo> which is the a/^ lo^ t f t he fluctuations of the accordance witn u lin(?g ag SS&tups?""" °'" m '" "" n f«.oucnt occasions during recent 0n W been urged that some years it »»« . iu £ le oase 0 f c]o th St n d « should be estabsold « s it happens hshecl. ,/'tamped "Warranted mthat goods stamps tfaey t is ° & claim to the guarantee, have HUH. the ~e t. n j e r 1S When such » ™ c * g c tomor) M i s R l, V ay ß blamed 0} ~ between the shopthe public. The fault, really | kcepei aiiu luann facturer, according •; ,i(>S who mentioned the patter <> o a ( ~,,,] the remedy, according to to me, a"" h;xvc a definite standard as llin lC degree of purity which would t»*jtrio being stamped as pure

vndigo-dyed. This point was considered at a recent meeting of producers of dyed cloths in the north of England. It was agreed that the timo had arrived when 'some definite standard should be instituted not only as regards woollens and worsteds but also in respect of cotton goods and silks. Accordingly a conference of the different sections of the trade is to be called, to formulate a definite line of action.