SNAKES IN KIMBERLEY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23202, 28 May 1937, Page 12

SNAKES IN KIMBERLEY

A horde of snakes recently invaded Kimberley, the famous diamond city. Driven by oppressive heat, the snakes were seen in large numbers in the districts surrounding Kimberley, and they went right into the city. A fourfoot yellow cobra was killed in a busy locality near the tram terminus at Kenilworth. People in a private garden in the same suburb were attracted by the chattering of birds in a nearby tree. Thev drew near to investigate, and found'a cobra, five feet in length, coiled among the branches. The snake was shot.

CHEMISTS' DRUGS ♦ BUYING IN BULK SUGGESTED DIFFICULTIES FORESEEN BY WHOLESALERS (Special to Daily Times) AUCKLAND, May 27. The difficulties which are reported to stand in the way of a reorganisation of the businesses of chemists throughout New Zealand were the subject of comment by representatives of wholesale druggists in Auckland. It was stated earlier this week that the retail chemists were considering the possibility of establishing a system of bulk buying as an alternative to the scheme of rationalised manufacture and supply previously propounded. The whole position arises from the fact that the chemists last year were requested by the Government to put their own businesses in order if they were to receive continued or extended protection against the operation of overseas firms. It is understood that the matter is being considered at present by the Bureau of Industry, but the wholesale druggists are apprehensive lest a section of the retail chemists should press unduly for a scheme of bulk buying, which, they claim, could only react to the detriment of the whole trade. The wholesalers point out that their businesses represent large capital investments and they take it that the Government will neither originate nor approve of any scheme which will seriously jeopardise that capital. They also state that although the companies are often regarded as powerful concerns not deserving of overmuch consideration the shares generally are held in small quantities and represent the invested savings of a large section of the public. Another question raised by the wholesalers concerns the ultimate outcome of an extensive scheme of bulk buying by the retail chemists. It is stated that wholesale druggists carry on their shelves supplies of many lines that turn over only at rare intervals. They are forced to carry these lines in order to give a proper standard of service to their chemist customers .and are able to sell them at a reasonable price only because of the general turnover which they obtain from quick-selling products. " Many drugs essential to a chemist in dispensing certain of his prescriptions are among the slow sellers," said a wholesale druggist. " In the true sense of the word they are not economic lines, but the wholesaler has to carry them if he wishes to render efficient service." It is claimed that any form of bulk buying could embrace only quick-selling lines. Shorn of a great part of his turnover in this direction, the wholesaler would have to increase his prices on the slow-sell-ing lines, and the retail chemist would have to pass on these increased prices to the public. The argument was put forward that the chemists, in organising a bulk buying scheme, might elect to order and stock the slow-selling lines for themselves. In reply to this, wholesale druggists state that in that event they themselves would be forced out of business and that the chemists would have to set up an organisation of their own, with warehouses in each of the four centres fully staffed and carrying full and expensive stocks. They would be merely duplicating for themselves an organisation which is at present giving them service. In general, it seems that the wholesale druggist will not sit down and see his whole business jeopardised without making some fight to secure himself and his shareholders. The.wholesalers as a class are now awaiting a lead from the Bureau of Industry, but they are unanimous on the point that bulk buying by the retailers is no solution of the present complex problem.