RELATION TO RETAIL PRICES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18086, 10 May 1922, Page 9

RELATION TO RETAIL PRICES.

THE CmiULATIYE EFFECT. The secretarv of the Employers' Association, Mr. S". E. Wright, in referring to the pronouncement, said there had hardly yet been time to got a definite opinion from employers generally as to hew thev viewed the Court's pronouncement. No doubt, employers in industries which had been hard hit by the financial depression or competition of cheaper imported goods would be disappointed at the small amount of the reduction, but as in such cases it was still open to them to appeal to ttho Court for special coneideration owing to industrial economics, the pronouncement was not final, so far as they were concerned. The smaUness of the reduction would, in many cases, make it difficult to adjust prices, so that the public would receive any benefit, but. there would be less difficulty in cases where the reduction would be cumulative in industries such as building. In retail trade, added Mr. Wright, the 1 eduction in wages would be a mere fraction of a penny in comparison with the turnover, but in cases where the goods sold were made locally the cumulative reduction from the commencement of manufacture, including i eductions in freights and handling, would probably have an appreciable effect on the retail price. Employers generally were pledged to pass any reduction given by the Court on to the public, so there was every hope that the Court's pronouncement, small as it was, would be reflected in the Government Statistician's " Cost-of-Living" figures.