COST OF CLOTHES

Marlborough Express, Volume LIII, Issue 194, 18 August 1919, Page 2

COST OF CLOTHES

NO PROFITEERING

DECLARATION BY WOOLLEN

COMPANY CHAIRMAN,

"When addressing shareholders of , the Wellington Woollen Manufactur- \ ing Company at the annual meeting, j the chairman (Ma- W. H. P. Barber) ; said that the company's selling prices j. to the trade—it did not reach, the consumer direct—had. been raised only in actual sympathy with the rise in cost <>f production. "I repeat,"' said Mr Barber, "that there has been no desire, or attempt, to seize the opportunity of a depleted market, for we havo tried to our utmost to divide our output in fair proportion among enr regular clients. Had we chosen to open new accounts, or to directt goods into other channels available, or given preference to larger buyers, we could have obtained hotter prices. We ara not claiming any special virtue for that, as our intention was to be loyal to those who supported us in the past, and to whom we hope to sell in the future. High and constantly-increasing prices of the many bought articles used by us come from outside, and obviously we could not exercise any control mi fixing them. Dining the financial period, new labor conditions have beea made for botdi the mill and clothing factory operatives. In each case- agreements were settled amicably without the aid of the Arbitration Court or Conciliation Cbrnnussioner, and satisfaction was expressed by tho employees' advocates at the settlements effected:. Tho we'eklv hours for woollen •mills were reduced, by three, and for clothing factories by one, making 45 and 44 hours per j week respectively. Substantial increases in wages were also made, and I am pleased to be able to say that no reflection caci be cast on the trade's wages in comparison with other industries. RETAIL PRICES OF CLOTHING. "Reverting for a moment to the unquestionably high retail prices of clothing, I wish to mak© a short explanation, which might cause some of the adverse critics to modify thenviews before making sweeping assertions in condemnation of all manufactlnrelrs "here. Speaking for ourselves, it should be known in the first place that we have not been in a position to supply the tailoring trade, aa the bulk of the outiput of our worsted and woollen suitings is nequired for our own clothing facttories. Therefore, but a small quamtity of Petone tweed reaches the bespoke tailor, and that mostly in the country districts. . ln the second place, I want to make it quite plain that, with few exceptions, all the very numerous commodities required in both wioollen and clothing manufacture have tlo be obtained abroad. The exceptiofltis are wool, costing G6£ per centj. more than- :'n 1914; coal, costing 100 per cent, more; and soap, also 100 per cent. more. The scarcity of dyes is fairly well known, and as an example of the" increase, I mention the cost of dyeing black, which is now 650 per cecit. greater for material alone, without labor. Many fancy colors are much (above that figure". Advanced prices apply to every department using its own particular stores. , "Although there is much cause for discontent of ' consumers, those whoso emotions run: to public expression should endeavor to acquire some rudimentary knowledge of the tradie before making loose assertions. The assumption of many anonymous writers appeal's to be that because they imagine every quality of wool cane be bought for, say, Is 6d a, lb, ih&b all between that and the selling price is profit. They don't c yen know that greasy wool bought at, say, Is 3d to 2s alb is half full of grease and dirt, and1 therefore the cost is doubled when it is clean scoured. Many do not even include the wages as pairb of the cost. Now, to begin with, it is a fairly • clean wool that doea not lose 50 per cent, in scouring, so dotiblimg the price. . The average clean scoured merino wool used by us, it is alb. Their© is waste in each following process of dyeing, willeying. carding, combing, spinning, drawing;, warping, weaving, milling, and finishing. This loss, of course, adds to the prime cost, and besides every bought article used throughout the process of woollen, worsted, aiid hosiery manufacture has advanced, in price. In many cases expensive substitutes have to be used. There are increased overhead charges in salaries, travelling expenses, freights, and the many incidental items—not forgetting extensive pillages: in j transit—before the goods reach the! buyer. In the clothing branch, apart j from the higher cost of tweed, nil other iaiidispensablo articles wanted, such as linings, thread, battens, etc., are imported, and have-risen in price enormously. As an example, Italian cloth 200 per cent., printed silisia 400 per cent., hessian 4QO per cent., hymo 200 per cent., buttons 150 per j cent., tape 350 per oenti., calico 400 per cent., and so on. It seems super- j fluous to mention it, but there is not one item of the large number of absolute necessaries imported and used by us over the price of which we have not the slightest control. ADVANCE OF SELLING PRICES. "As our sales are confined to the tradie only, and we have no dealings with tho consumer direct, I am not! at liberty to make a public state- j merit of the advance in our selling pa-ices since 1914, but I can repeat what I have said before, that they J ha.ye not been raised more than we j were legitimately entitled! to ask, to coyelr the actual cost of bought sup- ; plies, amd other increases. It might. J interest you to know that the return ! in dividends received by shareholders including this year's payment aver- j ages 6 h P®r cent, per annum. We j have paid 28 dividends in 36 years." j