GOING UP: PRICES AND PROFITS

NZ Truth, Issue 770, 7 August 1920, Page 1

GOING UP: PRICES AND PROFITS

The thrifty housewife should be on tho look out for weevils m any oatmeal and rolled oats she may purchase. The annoying- little insect is becoming too common, and the breakfast plate of porridge is dear enough as it is without keeping a score or 'more weevils on oats m addition to the hungry mouths surrounding the family table. Any oatmeal showing- signs ot weevil should be promptly returned .to the seller. The presence of the weevil may be detected by taking a handful of the meal and letting it run through the fingers. If it is stuck .together toy web or threadwork it is a moral that the weevil is lurking about. .

The once familiar seventy-pound bag of sugar has again come into prominence. "Truth" said weeks ago tfhat there was only one thing keeping the little bags hiding so modestly m the background, and that was the pending increaso m price. All the same, it is good to see the seventies iback again even if they have doubled m price (better dear sugar than no sugar at all), tout it was a far better sight that a Wellington gasfitter Baw during the height of the alleged shortage when on being admitted to tine storeroom of a large local grocery house, he saw bags upon bags of sugar waiting patiently to invade the public counter when the price went up. The gasfitter was allowed to repair the leakage of gas m the storeroom only under a strict oath of secrecy. Like the gas, however, the secret seems to have leaked out.

Ninety-nine per cent of the stuff one sees labelled "linen collars" m the mercers' and drapers' windows is never no sich thing as linen. Most so-called "linen collars" are made up of scrap cotten material heavily loaded to stiffen them. Tbe otiier day a Glasgow flnn was charged with "falsely describing" such goods and set up the ingenious plea that "li.nen" was the common trade description to distinguish such goods from similar articles made of "soft" or rubber materials; but the Sheriff took the common-sense view that customers were entitled to get what they asked for, and emphasised his finding by imposing a fine of £10. Will some one m Noo Zee lay the profiteering ragman by the heels for this little dodge? It was toad enough to be Cheated when collars "were cheap, but at the price now charged for "linen" collars, it 4s up to the buyer to lnsiat on getting them and not "converted" cotton scraps.

:: ss ss "It Is reported," writes a correspondent, "that a consignment of German musical instruments arrived at an Invercargill warehouse a few days ago, and that they met with a ready sale. To many people, this opens up an awkward problem. Am Ito be patriotic and patronise the profiteer who charges excessive prices under the cloak that he is not an alien, or am I to be unpatriotic and buy these German-made goods at a considerable saving to my own pocket? I sincerely hope that the British manufacturers will come to our rescue and solve the awkward problem by reducing his prices right away. German -made firoods will continue to come Into this country' m titeady increasing quantities and despite all the wild talk during the war oU Bhtmning the alien end his goods m peace times, pocket will always rule over patriotism. If the British and American manufacturers will not reduce their prices,

I for one, will not be fool enough to swell their exlaorbitant profits by purchasing their wares m preference to the cheaper priced German article."

"Mother of Two" enters the arena and has a tilt at "Mother of Eight," over title latter's assertion that she can keep her little household on £3 15a a week. She writes: "When 'Mother of Eight' hurled her bomb- shell into the midst of our family circle we, meaning wives m general, ' were too amazed to retaliate. However, slie has since undergone some bombarding, and I notice that she is now on the defensive. Well, well, every dog has his day. Now, I do not wislh to bombard, but I would be very interested to know how my husband, who is an eight to five worker, is going to buy fruit at the market and so save money m that .direction as "Mother of Eight' advises. Is he to lose a half-day m order to do so, or is this a secret- also? A hint would toe most acceptablel Then the lady seems to be under the impression that when a woman is possessed of a husband who drinks, all she has to say is, 'Bill, I've got the chat, old dear. Just you cut out the der-rink, and it will save me a*' pound a month or more, besides a heap of trouble.' Bill replies thusly: •Why, of course, old thing! Why didn't you mention it before?' Eh, what? Just another and I'm through. If "Mother of Eight' feels the strain sorely as she now admits, why not walk into that £ 1 per week, which she now puts down south and be happy etc., as she was before she penned her firat epistle m wfaich she gave us lesser lights to understand that it was no trouble whatever for her to perform her wonderful feat."

(Mrs. "Truth" romped In from the pictures about half -past tea-time the other night, with a string of saveloys and a pound of "butter." "Just gone up," she gleefully exclaimed. "One and ninepence these days" (referring to the "butter.") ■ No self-respecting husband would take exception to such a small thing as a rise m butter prices, especially as good old Bill Massey is renewing the subsidy to keep the prices down. It was only when she took the paper off and placed the "butter" m the dish recently bought at the prewar price of nine and thruppence that the domestic felicity was disturbed. The "hutter" was Tee-Total "butter" — two "t's" glaring proflteeringly across the table. But what of that,. so long as Bill was keeping prices for good "butter" down? Everything was going good until tha "butter" took a band m the argument. A drunken, abusive Glasgow fireman could not bo half so abusive and profane as was that "TeeTotal" butter. It simply reeked with rancid exudations.

It seems that any hopes that the women folk may Have as to an immediate drop m drapery prices are doomed to disappointment. A "Truth" representative was told this week that the buyers employed by the biff drapery firms are having to pay gTeatly increased prices for next season's goods. Of course this does not apply to all lines, but when tha price dockets come to be pinned" on shortly they will rather shook tho fair devotees of fashion. It is to ho hoped, however, that .this will only strengthen the determination of those women who have banded together to fight high prices, m the continuance of their boycott.