HOME AGAIN.

New Zealand Mail, 21 February 1901, Page 56

HOME AGAIN.

MR JOHN DUTHIEIS RETURN. SOME. fexGLI&H OBSERVATIOXS. A SHIPPING COMBINE. PENNY POSTAGE AND MAIL SERVICES. Air John Out hie returned to Wellington last week—after a visit to England, America and the Continent -looking well and hearty. Mr Duthie $ visit was nrincinally of a business charactei, but as business is Air Duthie s principal le-ereat-ion. ho had a very pleasant time. Chatting with a ‘Alail / reporter on the 13th, Mr Dathie said he had observed a change in business methods in too Old Country even in the short space of three years. The tendency to estaolish combines, to conserve monopolies, and keep up prices, so as to' ensure larger dividends t° promoters of enterprises, seems to be increasing ;n Gn at Britain as well, as in America. ,A noticeable feature at Home was the conservatism prevailing in regard to the extension of manufactures. It is surprising that, trade being so good as it is, no hew manufactories are springing up in England. , •‘ What is ! the outlook for the ordinary, tradei- in face of these comb n-s ?” asked the interviewer. « vi ell, the thing doesn’t end there. The small traders seem to be com billing in self-protection. In the ramincations of business in London one finds a great proportion of the retail traders combining to keep prices up. The general tendency is to increase the price of goods nil round. In fact, retail piices are at the present time equally high m London as in New Zealand.” ~ “ Have wages gone up in sympathy r y Oh, yes! Indeed, great difficulty is found in getting labour for some classes of work. For instance, while I was in. London, two firms, one shipping and another mercantile, advertised tor a fortnight for office boy.s without receiving a single application. A year or two back they would have received fifty clone hundred.” “ Is that the result of the war ? “It is hard to say. But you could hardly believe how fully people are employed. There has not been that readiness of late to rush off to the war that there was. Men realise that it is better to work at home for decent wages than to rush off to the war and accept the wages offered to soldiers. The authorities seem afraid to - raise the rate of pay for soldiers, because to do so would be to establish an expensive precedent. The way out of the dilemma : .s to employ colonial soldiers, even if for their temporary services they demand higher pay. And that is what is being done. On the other hand, it must be admitted that the action of the colonies has earned for them the hearty goodwill of the British people.” Conversation then drifted to the question of freights. Air Duthie discovered, as the result of inquiries, that a combine amongst shipping firms is responsible for the high shipping rates ruling in these colonies. An agreement has been come to amongst various shipping companies trading to the Antipodes by which the exact amount of t-onnage to be deposited at each port has been agreed upon, as well as the rates at which it- is to be carried. Large profits are being earned. and partially devoted to strengthening the concerns indicated. Individual importers and exporters have no redress, except to start a counter movement and build ships to carry their own requirements. " .! -But how about competition With a combine of this kind ?” “I think it could make fair interest on its capital. At any rate, our only protection is to set up a shipping company of our own to carry our goods at legitimate rates.” “Why not invite the State to take the thing in hand?” ' “Because I do not believe in State interference with private enterprise. This is a ease for a legitimate investment of private capital. An evil has arisen, and in self-protection we, as busines-s men, shall have to provide a remedy.” J —Did you make any observations in regard to municipal affairs during your stay in London ?” , —As far as-London is concerned there are ,hardly any of the streets in the re=mo test- suburbs which are not blocked and kerbed. The amount of money which has been spent in street widening . and improving ; London is appalling.” j'Hi^Whnt your observations as to tramways?/ ... .-i- ; •; ;> i-. -. . '“Well,/ the overhead, trolly system is everywhere the most popular and effective. I regret to learn that you have made such small progress in, Wellington in my absence in this respect. Electric tramways ate expensive to lay down, but they would undoubtedly pay in Wellington, provided the fares were not fixed at tod low a rate.,. Expedition 1-6 the principal thing to he Considered in connection with electric traction, You want to be able to run over a long distance in a short time, and anything which stands as an obstruction to expedition, anything which will prevent the city worker, who lives in the suburbs, from reaching his: work in the .shortest possible time, should be swept away.” “Is New Zealand being talked of in London just now ?”

“One thing which led to a great deal of criticism in the morning papers and in the country press was the Bill to abolish Chambers cf Commerce. This proposal to infringe upon the rights and liberties of business men met with adverse criticism on every hand. It was a subject of discussion for several days, and I was bailed up about it by dozens of people.” -What is the general feeling in regard to the institution of penny postage in New Zealand?”

"In my opinion penny postage would be a. very good thing if we could afford it, but it is a small advantage when you consider that we have no service with Great Britain under cur control. As ah old politician I chuckled at the way in which the American made Air Seddon dance to his piping. The fact is that Air Spreckles has made the Premier adopt a mail service to suit his own steamers, instead of the convenience of the people of this colony. Penny postage is good, but what is the use of penny postage with a haphazard service? I firmly believe that it would have been more businesslike to have paid the money which we will drop in penny postage to subsidise a really first-class service. A speedy, reliable service is required. It is impossible to get that unless we are prepared to pay something like an equivalent. See what large sums are paid as a subsidy to the Federal service m Australia! Unless we are to pay a reasonable subsidy to the Vancouver line, it would be better to establish regular communication with the Federal service than to go on as we are doing. Even that is not as fast as it should be, being allotted on a basis of fourteen knots an hour. lam sure that the business community would much rather pay twopence a letter for an efficient, up-to-date and regular service than a penny for a service which is none of these things.” “How do you think our colonial credit stands in the London market at the present tim®?” “Various attacks have been made upon it in various quarters, but I really do not think it will have had very much effect when the colony chooses to go to London for a loan. Our security is regarded as too good.” “Did you make any inquiries in regard to cur produce ?” “Travelling with, a Queensland gentleman interested in the meat trade in the Arcadia, I was informed that the Americans are killing extremely young cattle, and supplies of meat are running very short. There is every indication that the present high prices will be maintained for some time. It has been expected that with the immense trade being done and the high prices ruling, wool would advance. There has been some embarrassment amongst speculators, but I cannot help thinking that there will be an improvement very soon.”

Air Duthie wound up an interesting interyiew by assuring the ivriter that he had confirmed in London all his statements about the Government having withdrawn its application for three per cent, debentures on the London Stock Exchange. His statements made in regard to tlie transaction were, he says, correct in every detail, and he is unable to understand how Mr Seddon could have made the continual denials he did in Parliament.