RETAIL TRADE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 53, 31 January 1940, Page 13

RETAIL TRADE

EFFECT OF WAR. QUESTION OF PROFIT. The effect (f the war on retail trade in New Zealand and the work of the Price Tribunal are discussed editorially in this month’s issue of the New Zealand Draper, Clothier and Boot Retailer, the official organ of the New Zealand Federation of Drapers, Clothiers and Boot Retailers. “For the first time since 1918 the Dominion has entered a New Year with the Empire at war—and this time engaged in a struggle that may he as long and costly as the last one. However. now that the decision lias been made the responsibility lies on those sections of the community who are not on active service overseas to do all in their power to preserve economic normality,’'' states the article. “Conditions to-day are admittedly different from those of the years 1914-18. Shopkeepers are faced with difficulties in connection with the purchase of stocks usually obtained from overseas—a difficulty which has now been accentuated bv the shipping situation. But the slogan of ‘business as usual’ is just as apt and necessary to-dav as it wa= in the Great War. With the retrictod stocks now available, together with the increasing variety of production from New Zealand manufacturing concerns. Dominion shopkeepers will keep the flag flying on the home front. .PRICE TRIBUNAL. Differences of opinion between the trade and the Price Tribunal on matters of adjustment have not yet reached finality. At the last meeting of the federation it was interesting to note that the special committee had found great difficulty in making the tribunal realise that there were essential differences between the drapery trade and such other trades as, for instance, grocery. Tt was felt, however, that the tribunal had undoubtedly become more favourably disposed to the trade, according to one speaker, who added that he felt it was sincere in its desire to see business emerge intact after the neriod of regulation was ended. When the subject was resumed later the discussion took on a somewhat different aspect, and the first speaker in the afternoon said that the tribunal should be told that the Australian system was the only possible one and that no other formula could he suggested. “After a further discussion the federation passed a motion affirming that it was essential to the stability of the businesses of members that a trader should have the right to charge from time to time as a maximum price the ■ cost to him of his goods together with a rate of mark-up calculated on the same basis as that on which the rate of mark-up had been calculated by him on goods of like quality before September 1, 1939. The resolution went on to state that the federation could not accept any responsibility on behalf of members for the results to businesses which would he the outcome or a scheme incorporating anything less. Nevertheless, it was agreed to give to the tribunal a list of certain standard commodities where uniform selling prices had previously applied and in which co-operation between manufacturers, retailors, and the Price Tribunal should be practicable in the future. Tt is to be hoped that a solution, taking into account the very real difficulties of the trade, will be reached in this vexed question-. LEGITIMATE PROFIT. “It is recognised that the public should be protected from unscrupulous traders who would use the war, and the difficultv of replacing stock on a rising market, for their own selfish ends.” Such profiteers exist in every country though, fortunately for the Dominion, they are very much in the minority here. To prevent their, attempts to obtain excess profits is a laudable aim, but the legitimate requests of the average firm, as expressed by the special committee, are worthy of careful examination. Based, as they are, on the considered opinion of men who have spent a lifetime in the trade, thev aim merely at a reasonable rate of profit instead of a probable loss. The drapery trade, because of its special nature, deserves sympathetic consideration. “Just what effect the enlistment in the military forces of so many thousand youn rr men will have on the men’s 'clothing trade is a question that is being considered seriously by these who cater solely for that demand, io some extent, undoubtedly, it will have its repercussions, but not to the degreo that might be expected. Those who were in business during the last war will remember that, though there was a lean period at the beginning, it was offset bv the continual demand for mercery and clothing that began after the return to the Dominion ot the first troops and culminated in a hectic buying rush when thousands were demobolised at the conclusion ot hostilities.”