KING EDWARD TECHNICAL COLLEGE AND SCHOOL BOOKS. THE MAUI POMARE. THE CO-OPERATIVE FRUITGROWERS OF OTAGO.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20833, 27 September 1929, Page 12

KING EDWARD TECHNICAL COLLEGE AND SCHOOL BOOKS.

THE MAUI POMARE.

THE CO-OPERATIVE FRUITGROWERS OF OTAGO.

TO THB EDITOH. Scott, chairman of King Edward Technical College, stated at a recent, meeting that "the college was not getting any concessions on-school books aiid that when the board had to guarantee a certain number of books lie thought their scholars should get a concession,- This statement is rather misleading and would lead the public to believe that the students were overcharged for their books. In the first place, when the board places a bulk order:for books with any local bookseller, it gets a very, good concession.—namely, 10 per cent, oil English published price, which is equal to the English price, plus postage to New Zealand. These books can be supplied at this rate only when the bookseller takes no risk and sends the entire order to the College, but, when books are ordered by the College for general use and the bookseller takes all risk of unsold copies, etc., the advance on English published price is the same aa that charged for general-literature. The discount received by the bookseller on school books is less than that received ou general literature, although school booKS are sold at the same advance on English prices as other books. I cannot understand the attitude taken up by the board, that school books should be imported direct. The bookseller has, as well as any. other class.of business, a right to earn a fair living.in this-country, and also, has the right to get a. fair profit. I maintain that he is onlygetting a. reasonable.return on school books at present prices. I-\do not know if-Mr Scott, the chairman, is in business himself, but, if lie was'a bootseller or clothier he would not like the board, importing boots and clothes direct from the manufacturer at Home to supply the students. Business is not very bright ia the Dominion at present, and will be yery much worse if we allow our public institutions to trade direct with publishers and manufacturers, and so cut out the local shopkeeper.—l am, etc., H. L. HUJIPHRF.Y, Hon. secretary, Dunedin 'Bookseller!)* Association. •

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —As oue o£ the reasons given for dropping Dunedin from the itinerary of the Maui. Pomare is that more back cargo has been.shipped from Lytteiton, it should be noted that practically all'the Dunedin cargo has been railed to Lytteiton for shipment.-- ■ The total amount of trade that could be worked up from Dunedin to the Islands is quite unknown so far, because.there has been only one visit to Dunedin by 'he vessel. Moreover, her sailiue dates from any New Zealand port have "been so irregular that 1 no one could expect any lari;e amount of trade. We have no doubt that, given a reasonably definite time table and some; little time in which to work up business, the manufacturers of Dunedin would soon export more goods than any other port in New' Zealand, with the exception only of Auckland. —We are, etc., ■ - Irvine & Stevenson's, St. George Company, Ltd. Dunedin, September 25.

- TO. .ME EDITOR Sib—l am oust in receipt of the balance sheet of, the Co-operative Fruitgrowers of Otago; and-1 must' say : it does riot reflect much credit',either on the ,management',or the directors..to..allow a firm handling; the large amount of 29D,624i cases of fruit, to say nothing of other produce and earning £6143 in commission and., other charges in so doing, and not to show, better results. When one looks into the figures and notices that no less a sum than £4412 3? 6d- is absorbed in paying salaries and wages, that the with their travelling expenses, take £317-I4s7d, thatgeneral expenses run into'£43o lis ; 3d, and that bad debts come to £299 12s Id, one 'begins to' think, that the.'pboi% fruitgrower is paying very. : dearly ..for what lie -gets in 'return. This- matter of bad debts: calls .for.:' some .comment.:■;Tomy: mind 'sueh ; ; an--item .should, not appear on a balance sheet'of Wcoßcern of this nature} -Goodness knmvs.i the' retailers get..quite; large '■ profite" {without petialis'ing the growers/iwho bave :to take ; all the risks." Xow.Hh'ere are only four concei' llß handling the' soft ■■ f ruits, and why" they cannot do business with the buyers oh more up-to-date methods I. do not know The man in the street says that our con-, cera will not depart from the ancient methods.and give short-term credits which, the. other agents would agree to. Anyhow, our directors-will have to do something or they will soou find some of their best suppliers pulling out of-the company altogether. The. management may think that the loss of a few pounds in the case of each shareholder is a small, matter, but, as things are at present, these odd pounds mean a lot, especially to those in a small, way. • ■...'..

When the “ Co-op;” was first formed, we were told-that it was going to be the saviour 'of’ the industry, that it would not be long before we would be getting all our .fruit, sold: at much Mower' commission rates, and that we would also be able to buy all our spraying materials—and, in fact, everything we required—at much cheaper rate than were ruling then. AH these benefits are still in the womb of th 6 future after a long wait of 12 years. Perhaps in another 13 years it may be possible to'fulfil these promises. At present other concerns have seen that the orchard Ist is not a bad buyer. of quite a lot of . things, and he has stepped into the breach, and now we have .no trouble .in getting'all we require at bedrock prices, and our own concern has to take the leavings. If, our management thinks-it can buy from local wholesalers and resejl’ to ns growers and - make anything , like a profit—well, the sooner it wakes up to the fact that' if, it wants to do big business, it must go to the fountain head and not be content! to ‘buy from jobbers’. The first,years of this concern's existence showed over £6OO profits, but their we were lucky enough to have , two keen business men on the directorate. Sincethey _ resigned we have been gradually drifting into deep'water, and we look .now as if we arc going to have .a period of rough times, -1 .see that we have had to write off one item alone of £IOOO, which is a very nasty smack. Why the direr-. tors ever^ touched the concern ■which has caused this loss, or lent it money, or gave it fruit (which- amounts to the same thing), goodness only ’knows. ' No one seems to try to .devise ways-apd means of saving money for our shareholders lake, for instance, the system of-sending out advice: notes of- prices obtained for fruit sold. Instead of using the present cumbersome sheet, why . not-have a folder gummed on - one ’edge, the same as most of the up-to-date fruit agents use, and thus do away with envelopes? The same folder coujd be used to send back to growers giving ’ prices of consignments sent in fqr, sale, instead of wasting quite a larke amount in bound kooks. These small things mean money saved and also quite a-lot of time, especially if The clerks who attend to this matter, instead of writing down each individual case and its price, give so many cases at, sav, 3d per lb, and so many at Id per lb. “Then they could probably get tlieir advices away on tlie same day-as the sale. As it is at present the advice notes usually turn up, sometimes three at. a time, two days late; and the information they give i$ useless to the receiver* ■ If this concern is a fair specimen of the way co-operative business should be ruit, well all I can say is that it is time they gave it.up and tried a better method, more in keeping with the business methods at known successful, companies,—l am, A Disgusted SnAREnotDER.