THE FINANCIAL SITUATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14528, 20 May 1909, Page 8

THE FINANCIAL SITUATION

LOCALLY. GOOD TRADE AND EXCELLENT PROSPECTS. OPINIONS OF BUSINESS MEN, In all quarters in Dunrdin there is unanimity of opinion among business men tha' this city occtpie.-, a liuaiicial position that b sound beyond all quest inn. A Daily Times reporter interviewed a number of gentlemen prominent in sin- commercial community yesterday, and everywhere found the same \ie\v expressed No cause for complain: at all and, if anything, trade showing signs of impiovemetii. 'I his was the pronouncement in some warehouses in which luxuries formed ihe chief lines of business. A few of the merchants were not " We are going on ail right." was the subslaiice of I heir reply. "We lind business steady and good, and no difference holween this year and last year." This was the \ie\v taken by the managers of perhaps half a <lozeu large businesses. Others refused outright to comment on the situation. There was no need for it, and why give thought to a position tluw did no; exisi '! Everybody is hopeful, not only that lite slight depression that has been fell will speedily pass away, but that a substantial increase will lake place in trade before long. 'J iice are a feu of the views laid before our reporter:■-

A well-known gentleman oieupying a rivspoijsiblo position in connection with iiiiuneial matters .'ays: " J consider thai the business of Diinodiii is in a very solid slate, compaialivcly e.pcal;ifg. As' far as 1 know, |hero is no trouble looming. No doubt iiicn-y is a Jitiia shorter than if has been in the past, and Ihe weaker people, of course, feel the effects, hut things are not sufficiently bad to affect any large mMiluticn. Trade ongajriiionis arc mat wiili very fair regularity" and punctuality, which is always a good indication of file stability of business. There is a greater demand for meury at pre:e:it, but" it is warranted more or less, by the position ot the- business people generally Anv trouble that has Iwcu experienced is felt, ■y the weak man. who lias practically "He capital and |, as ,-, (illnnM f| . om , h '„ to clay. 'J'here is no danger in the way of the ma,, who has a la.ir amount of capital at his back. '

11,! \- ;■ , M 11 ' 1 " 0 ' " P " :, ' aJ '""•"MP'r of U . N " °" . 3I ? rtßn , se ,iml A^enc .V Comwnj: jfeyon.l the desire, which seems (o v jmm, |.o re V ,net business {o somc , or murk time afio r the Parous loiimwrcial comimmitv. .As far ;k T r*n juugo, t-i« city is i» u ucfoc.lv sound p"" ton. I may 6av tins, tco: it is my opinion Uo-s more harm tli.iii good to discuss '*0 Matter*, and I lx.] ievc , lw , tH d om tnen, tlic Lata-, ci,!,or in ~|, 0 pilo " pi inU tr on t!ie street.

Mr Peter Lurr, secretary of the Dunediu Lumber of Commerce: There is no reason judge, business i„, jj Ulle ., In l 8 jus| ' lcl . 11 . "'"■••, »■'' »re, of course, in loin- '»/>" with othor I!;t r,.s of Hie Dominion, Mtniff Hie stringency oi the moiwc mar' ke.t, and the results of I lie general depression, but I urn convinced that we arc- Join" so to nothing like- tli,-* extent that some of the northern cities are. I have lycn quite recently in Wellington, and am in for.sfant communication with the North Island, and I am sutir-lit-il that Diuiedin luis reason to congratulate itself that tlx-.ro is really so little to complain about locally in the way of trouble. We have noiliing to fear in Hie way of tho after-effects of a boom, either in laud, mining shar:s, or any departmciii of business, but u re progressing (|iiieily in our usual way. I think it would be fouml liy anyone making inquiries ilnit the proportion of business done on credit, and particularly on bills, i~> very much less in Dimedin than in other parts of ike Dominion, which f take to be n pretty clear indication cf the fma.tuial stability of our traders. Mr D. K. Thoomin: In my opinion it is; not difficult for anyone in touch with the Hailing community of Dunediu to form an opinion with regard to the present financial situation as it aliccls local conditions. It seems to me that the cycle of prosperity shared by the Dominion in common with the entire commercial world had induced tiaders to do as they lia.ve. always done, and will again do nutlet' similar circumstances, that, is to say. to be liberal anil careless alike in importing and in granting credits. C'omequcntly. when a cloud of depression loomed on the futancirj horizon and spread to little Now Zealand, the dullness here became more accentuated owing to our narrow and rest.riei.est limits. It would have been next to impossible [or the Dominion, however prosperous its, own circumstances, to have ostaped from ibis world-cloud of depression, but perhaps the induced attack of tho '•blues"'will not be without ultimate benefit to our coiimirreial patient, for ho will, at least for somo lime, place himself upon strict diet, and eventually his constitution will be all the sounder for the treatment. We here in Dunediu always take our medicine verywell [or quite a while, after our periodical attacks, as pilot oxperioneo has shown in tho various land, am! mining, and dredging booms of recent history, and it. is during this period of convalescence that our financial condition is really the most satisfactory. At the present moment 1 have no hesitation in saying that we are, so to speak, buffering a. recovery, and that trade generally is now being conducted within reasonable and judafiable limits. Statistics show that our imports are materially reduced (as, indeed, they ought to have keen long ago)-, and 1 am confident n canvass amongst the wholesale concerns in Diiiiodin will lovenl the fact that engagements are being kept remarkably well. Indeed, bearing in mind that business is undoubtedly dull, the prompt settlement of accounts is a subject for much congratulation. Doubtless the lctrenciinicnt scheme now so wisely token in hand by the Government will react somewhat detrimentally upon our trading community, and through it. upon every man, woman, and child in tho Dominion, for all arc iiidissolubly bound up in each other, but the wisdom of the stop is beyund question, and its effect in re-estab-lishing confidence will eventually far more than outweigh t.uy present inconvenience. I do not look for any marked improvement in trade until we hear of things tatten:;-- themselves in tlreat Britain, the United .States, and the Continent of Europe, where enormous fttllings-off in trado figures sire recorded. In the moaititimo the very satisfactory prices we are obtaining for the bulk of pur produce is a guarantee that the situation hero cannot become in any way grave. 'Reviewing all tho circumstances i have set. out, and having in addition 30 years' personal knowledge of the merchants of Dunediu, I can truthfully say that .1 believe local financial eon ditiens to bo thoroughly sound. A prominent business man of the city, ami a former president of the Chamber of Commerce, expressed the opinion that. Dunediu is the soundest place in N'ow Zealand. There is, he says, no firm of any standing whatever that he considers less worthy of credit, this year than it was a year ago. Tho only ditliculty has been the tightness of money which, affecting us it does the volume of trade, is bound, even with strong firms, to somewhat hamper their operations. There was no doubt there was an easier feeling since the goal harvest, ami money was uo; quite so tight .as it was sis months - ago. The harvest money was beginning to oonie in now, and that had cased things a bit, and if there was a good harvest next year he bad no doubt everybody would be in as sound a position is ever. "At present," he continued, ''my business is affected in this way: 1 find that insteed of my clients paying by a certain date and so getting the benefit of the discount, they a-'-k for iwo or three weeks' greae, but. at ihe cud of that time the money is always forthcoming. Of course, I heve to lie oiit of the money for I lull '.•.-.lra jieriod, but it comes in later on.'' Mr Wm. S'coil, secretory of the Otago Employers' Association, said that in connection with his Arbitration Court work it was necesary for him to travel throughout the business centres of the Dominion, and more particularly to in';-iire into the financial position of each industry alTected. as nowadays nearly all tho Arbitration Court cases woiv argued from the commercial standpoint. Consequently, he was in a position to know pretty v.eil the financial rial us not only of the industries, but aiso of the commercial community, and his opinion was that although there was a little grumbling in Dunediu and money was a little t. ; »h!. yet Dunediu was more sound financially than any other centre in the Dominion, and in tfie event of a depression lie was sulislied that the people of ike- s.-.uth would I: ■ in a very much of iho_ north, lie was «iii-lied, too. that Dunediu financially v,as us sound as. if not sounder than, any other centre in the Dominion. trade was normal, prices

had not been inflated, nor had la ml Leon boomed to a fictitious price. This was proved by lhe number of bankruptcies that had taken place during the lasl three years in the four centres, as recorded in the latest Government returns. The figures were as follows:— 1905 1906 1907 Auckland 47 55 56 Wclliuufou 29 35 45 Cliristchurch 23 26 29 Dunedin 22 25 25 The registered mortgages of the four centres also proved the substantial position occupied bv Dunedin. Those .hvo facts bore out what lie had Found in his expe-n----ciice in conducting Arbitral ion Court "avs. lie was also of opinion (lev the volume of rel:i.il trade done in Dunedin during this year would comnare very favoitvalily with the same period of the previous year. " There is no cause for alarm, so far as Dunedin is cone-rued," concluded Mr Scott. Mr Joseph Rraithwaito says:-" I believe Dunedin i ; sound financially, and thai the present depression 'will soon blow over. .Money is difficult to gel iii-imt that the people are no| solvent, bui there is a withdrawal of money, the medium of exchange from circulation, for reasons which would lake 100 long to explain. J have seen several cycles of this sort of thing, but Dunedin has invariably come out on lon. end will do so again. 1 have no cause lo complain, t's I am doing a bigger turnover than T was at this time lust year. Wo should adopt the happy medium, not lo be too pessimistic on the one Innd nor 100 optimistic on the other, as either in excess, duos incalculable harm.