TRADE IN AUCKLAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23512, 24 November 1939, Page 12

TRADE IN AUCKLAND

CHRISTMAS 'ORDERING

MERCHANTS' BUSY WEEK PRICE , INVESTIGATION DELAY Exceptionally heavy business has been done by wholesale grocery merchants in Auckland during the past week. Large orders have been received for the last of the first of the month deliveries to be made this year. The range -of goods covers the usual seasonal lines, but it is too early to make any comparison with ordering oi last Christmas. Little buying is being done by merchants, as most of the second period licences have now been used. Their main concern is to deliver the large quantities of goods which have been ordered. Some delay has been caused by the necessity to refer all price increases to the Price Investigation Tribunal. Insome cases about a fortnight elapses between the lodging of tho application and the receipt of the tribunal's reply. Goods have to be held in store pending this decision, and storekeej>ers are forced to wait for articles which are badly wanted. Trade in the indenting firms is quiet. Most of the goods have been ordered for Christmas some time ago and licences in most cases have been exhausted. The spell of fine and warmer weather has stimulated drapery sales. Deliveries of tobacco for the period from December 1 to ]5 will be made to the country on Thursday and to the town and suburbs on Friday, December 1. CANNED MULLET New season's supplies of canned mullet packed in New Zealand are now being offered at unchanged prices. SULTANAS Tho Commonwealth Dried Fruit Control Board has announced that it is still able to offer supplies of plain snjtanas, subject to confirmation. SA STERN GOODS Further supplies of a wide range of Eastern goods, such as sago, rice, tapioca and canned pineapples, have arrived, and were welcomed by merchants, as; stocks generally were low. PAINT As is usual at this time of the year, sales of paint are now heavy, while brushes also are moving out freely. One difficulty being experienced is tho shortage of raw linseed oil CIGARETTES' Special Christmas packs of a large number of lines of cigarettes are now being offered to the trade for delivery on December 1. It is expected that theso lines will meet with their usual popularity for Christinas gifts. OOOONUT Prices for both desiccated and shredded coconut in Colombo are now higher than for a considerable time past. Indications are that values will rise further and the eventual landed cost in New Zealand will show fairly substantial advances. HARDWARE Merchants dealing in hardware report good retail sales, the opinion being expressed that people prefer to put their money into goods. Large orders are being received, but about two-thirds of these cannot be fried owing to shortages of stocks. Some of the lines affected are garden hose, plain and barbed fencing wire, and wire for making certain sizes of staples. i