PRICE OF FOOTWEAR.

Northern Advocate, 9 December 1918, Page 4

PRICE OF FOOTWEAR.

AN .AUSTRALIAN COMMISSION

FINDS UNDUE PRICES CHARGED

That the price of boots in Australia is unduly high, and that profits beyond a reasonable limit have been and are being secured, is the finding of the Inter-State Commission. "This condition of things," says the commission, "is due drectly to the influence of war conditions, and the opportunities for profit which those conditions have created." The Commission's report suggests that the fixing of prices for named types of boots would be a difficult task which could hardly be undertaken except in conjunction with the standardisation oi" boots, which might involve delay and undesirable administrative complexity. The present wholesale prices of footwear are, in the opinion of the commission, not justified by increased cost of production, and "the profits of both manufacturers and retailers are unduly high, if pre-war returns are Liken as a standard.' The tanning history, the report states, is in a prosperous condition, and, "with hardly an exception," manufacturers' accounts examined showed considerable increases of business and profits; the profits of wholesale distributors show the same features of increase, and in some cases the rate of profit is so high "as to occasion surprise that the middlemen can charge such lucrative prices," when manufacturers might be dealt with direct. "The most striking feature in the profits of the retail trade," says the report, "is that retailers have consistently added their habitual percentage to the laid-down cost of boots, though that cost had advance;', according to evidence, by from 2.1 per cent, to 50 per cent." The expenses of retailing have been practically stationary, so that, without any change in the character or value of their service, the retailers' net profits have been materially increased. In many instances profits in the boot industry have exceeded 20 per cent, on the net capital; in some instances have exceeded 25 per cent., and hi rare instances have exceeded 50 per cent., though "the profits in this industry was already high in 1914." The war has, by checking imports, and in other ways, provided the opportunity for unreasonably high profits.