FALLING MARKETS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17632, 19 November 1920, Page 8

FALLING MARKETS.

IS AN IMMEDIATE AND CONSIDERABLE REDUCTION POSSIBLE? We are daily treated to reports in our newspapers of falling markets in America, ■ the Homeland, and in Japan; in fact, ' so much is. being made of the matter * that the average- " man in the street" I and also " the woman in the bouse " is in danger of misunderstanding the posi- ' tion, and may be led to believe* that prices will be "cut in half in a few J days' time. - ' What are the true facts? ' A fall has certainly taken place, but, ' and it's a " big but,'' ths fall has been i from an extreme height, a height, that ! has never reached Auckland for the fol- ! lowing reasons: Auckland drapers and, t in fact, all New Zealand importers, carried stocks from six to twelve months ahead of the " top of the market " value, J and „ the public "of Auckland and New Zealand have had their drapery below London and New York prices during the war period, and are still doing so. The fall has not been sufficiently great 1 to bring drapery down to Auckland's ' prices. < The following comment from a well- ' known periodical on the spot is valuable : ' The Manchester Guardinan recently re- ■* viewing the position of the wholesale J drapers' trade, says the situation has ' changed greatly since March. In place ! of a boom, there is now widespread de- • pression and much short time unemploy- * ment. Orders from both Home and ( abroad have fallen off, due largely to the J adverse continental exchanges and the ! Crowing belief that crices are likely to : continue to fall. Householders have ; benefited to some extent, but the finished articles generally do not show similar reductions to raw material, owing to the ] advanced wages in every process of manu- ' facture, higher rent, rates, transport, taxation, and other chances. In the face of these factors it is difficult to account . for the belief in an avalanche of falling i prices w-'thin the next few months, or to : find evidence in support of it. The Guardian shows that of 75 items in the , drapery trade, wholesale prices of 41 advanced in comparison with March, 16 ■ were reduced, and 18 were not changed. • The advances usually were more substan- < tial than the reductions. , Supplied by .Auckland Drapers' and Clothiers' Association.