THE WOOLLEN INDUSTRY.

Northern Advocate, 19 August 1919, Page 4

THE WOOLLEN INDUSTRY.

HIGH COST OF CLOTH 1 X<i

COMPANY CHAIRMAN EXPUAIXS

The thirty-sixtih oi'dinary general meeting , of the Wellington Woollen Manufacturing , Company, 'Ltd., was held last week. There was a good attendance of shareholders, land Mr W. 11. P. Barber occupied the chair. CFT.VmMA X\S A DDE ESS. ': hi- c'miriii'aai, in moving the adoption oi the report and balance-sheet, said:-— As the aftermath of batttle, we are now in the midst of what is undoubtedly the world's greatest industrial transition. Uncertainty and distrust are in evidence everywhere. It could scarcely be expected that the greatest upheaval ever known should leave the industrial and commercial community free to proceed calmly in the way of restoring , business to pre-war conditions. The natural laws of. change have been hastened by tlhe War, and industrial problems crow , .! on employers suddenly instead of gradually, but with a little time and mutual forbearamee I believe that they will be solved to the saifcisfaotion of all Concerned. PROFIT SHARING. Following examples set in the older world, several firms in New Zealand have announced the introduction into their businesses of certain methods of profit-sharing, whielh. are expected to benefit their permanent employees in other ways than direct wages. It is easier for old-establish ed and wealthy private employers to decide promptly on such a policy than for a public company, having a largo liat of shareholders, and any ill-di-gested scheme would probably defeat its object. In adopting , suah a change it is essential that a method for maintaining output should be evolved. MORE ENERGY WANTED. Many suggestions have been made to thiat end, and in England and America,, double shifts ,of sax hours a day seems to be most favoured, as that puts the strain on the machine amd not the man, Whilst that could be effected where population is larger, it is te.t present impracticable here because of the scarcity of skilled operatives, and the disinclination of young New Zealand to undertake work in our industries. Much argument has been used by the workers' unions generally in favour of sihlorter hours,.,whicih are Said to give compensating output, but I do not know where the theory has been put into practice successfully, for reports from employers who have adopted j shorter hours tentatively do not susj tain the claim. With reduced hours wnd higher pay there should be some intensification of energy to maintain output, .so enabling employers to make good their undertakings. "MODEL EMPLOYER" SPEAKS. In this connection Lord Leverhulme, who was, prior to the war, accepted ias a model employer, has recently published his views on the future of British industry, and lainy statement coming from him is entitled to respect of the worker. He iholds (the belief ttoat shorter working , hours and higher pay ere useless unless they result in increased .output. He sees no difficulty in increasing- production as a healthy consequence or in increasing wages, but he condemns la mere artificial standard of short hours and high pay as a road to ruin. Perhaps those who indiscriminately blame the miamufacturer for the increases in living costs will weigh the words of a man wihio has done so much to improve the conditions of his employees. PROTECTED INDUSTRY. It will not 'be necessary for me to remind the older shareholders that for Tery many years after incorporation, t!his company, lake many other manufacturing concerns in New Zealand, had to struggle 'against fierce competition from abroad, and shareholders had for a long time to accept the sQ/tisfciction of building up aai essential industry in lieu 'of dividends. It was only when the industry received some protection from the tariff on manufactures produced by cheaper labour th'att the full output of the New Zealand -mills couJd be placed, so providing sluar eh older s of this company,, by the greatly increased turnover, with a legitimate profit, previously denied them, GROSS PRO-PITS SLIGHTLY LOWER. The figures of the balance-slieet, now before you, call for no special comment, as they vary in but slight degree from those of last year. Although the business of the period was larger thian ever before, the gross profit is slig-Mly lower, but as ttfie debit for interest ia less it allows for an increased net profit of & 1241. The stock has an 'absolute cash vialue equal to the balance-sheet amount, so in that item you have a surplus of 126,700 over the current creditors. The book,debts are good, but suitable provision has been made for possible losses. The total is a little larger because of increased business spread over a greater number of accounts, due to ttie ohiange from military to civiliiain trade. NO PROFITEERING. Mr W. H. P. Barber said he wished to speak briefly about am unpleasant wiord which was very much before the public ait present. He referred to "profiteering," which waa darelessly applied to every business 'house, no miatter what the surrounding circumstiajiees. Tfhere was a French proverb which said: "To excuse is to accxise." He was not excusing the figures the company ihad been able to show, because there 3uad been no advantage taken of the trade's requirements. The results— j which) were not in excess of a. fair return on the capital invested—were se- [ cured by increased sales, obtained in J a favourable mlarket, with applied ent'liustosm, endeavour, and loyalty of the staff. The company's selling prices to the trade—it did not reach

the consumer direct—.had been raised only in actual sympathy with rises !n'cost of production. HOT!;-; OF LABOUR LESS,—WAGES MORf-:. "1 repeat,'" said Mr Barber, "tiluu there has been no desire, for attempt, t!o seize the opportunity of ra, depleted market, for we have tried to our utmost to divide our output in faiv proportion among , our regular clients. Had we chosen to open new accounts, or to direct goods into other channels available, or given preference to larger buyers, we ciould have obtained betlter prices. We fare not claiming lany special virtue for that, as our intention was to be loyal to those who supported us in the past, and to whom wo 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 exorcise any control in fixing them. During the financial period, new labour conditions have been made for both It-he mill and clothing factory operatives. In each case agreements were settled \ amicably without the aid of tihe Arbitration Court or Conciliation Commissioner, and satisfaction was expressed by the employees' advocates at the settlements effected. The weekly hours for woollen mills were reduced by three, and for clothing factories by one, making 45 and 44 hours per week respectively. Substantial increases in wages were also made, and I am pleased to be able to say tihiat no reflection ea.n be ca&t on the trade's wages in comparison with otther industries. RETAIL PRICES OP CLOTHING. "Reverting for a moment to the unquestionably high retail prices of clothing, I wish to make a short explanation, which might cause some of the adverse critics to modify their views before maMng sweeping assertions in condemnation of all manufacturers here. Speaking for ourselves, it should be known in the first place tihat we have not been in a position to supply the tailoring trade, lab the bulk of the output of our worsted and woollen suiting's is required for our own clothing factories. Therefore, but a small quantity of Pet one tweed reaches the bespoke-tailor, and that mostly in the country districts. In the second place, I want to make it quite plain that, with few exceptions, iall the very numerous commodities required in both woollen and clothing manufacture have to be obtained 'abroad. The exceptions are wool, costing , 62* per cent, more than in 1914; coal, costing 100 per cent, more; and soap, also 100 per cent, .raiore. The scarcity of dyes is fairly well known, and as an example of the increase, I menrtion the cost of dyeing black, ■which is now 650 per cent, greater for material alone, without labour. M/any fancy colours are much above ttlbat figure. Advanced prices apply to every department using its town particular stores, LOOSE ASSERTIONS DEPRECATED. 'Although there is much cause for discontent of consumers, those whose, emotions run to public expression .should endeavour to acquire some rudimentary knowledge of the trade before making loose assertions. Tihe assumption of many anonymous writers appears to be that because tihey imagine every quality iof wool can be bought for, say, la 6d a lb, that all between that amd the selling price is profit. They don't even know that greasy wool bought lat*, s&y, 13 3d to 2s a lb is hialf full of grease and dirt, and therefore the cost is doubled when it is clean scoured. Many do not even include tihe Wages as part of the cost. Now, to begin with, it is ia fairly clean wool -that does not lose 50 per cent, in scouring, so doubling , the price. The average clean scoured merino wool used by us is 4s 'a lb. There is waste in each following process of dyeing, willeying, carding combing, spinaiing, drawing, warping, weaving, milling , and finishing. HIGHER INITIAL COSTS. This loss, of course, adds to the prime cost, land besides every bought i article used throughout the process of woollen, worsted and 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 tnamsit—before the goods reach <tlhe buyer. In the clothing branch l , apart from the higher cost of tweed, all other indispensable articles wanted, such as linings, thread, buttons, etc., are imported, 'and hfrve risen in price enormously. As ian example, Italian cloth 200 per cent., printed silesaa 400 per cent., hessian 400 per cent,, hymo 200 per cent., buttons 150 per cent., tape 350 per cent., calico 400 per cent., and so on. It seems superfluous to mention it, but there is not one item oi the large number of absolute necessaries imported and used by us), over the price of which we luive the slightest control, ADVANCE OF SELLING PRICES. "As our sales are confined to tho trade only, mmd we have no dealings with the consumer direct, I am not at j liberty to make a public statement of ! the advance in our selling prices since 1914, but I can repeat wihat I have before said, that they ihiave not been raised more tham we were legitimately entitled to ask, to cover the uotual cost of bought supplies, and other increases. It might interest you to know that the return in dividends received by shareholders including , thils year's payment averages 6 1-3 per cent, per annum. We have paid ! 28 dividends in 36 years."