GERMAN GOODS

Southland Times, Issue 19511, 10 May 1922, Page 3

GERMAN GOODS

BRITISH ORDERS NOT WANTED. REPARATIONS DEDUCTION DISLIKED. (Special to the Times.) CHRISTCHURCH, May 8. The unwillingness of German manufacturers to accept orders from British buyere is dealt with in a tetter from the head office in London of a large firm of soft goods warehousemen to its Christchurch house. The tetter says, inter alia:— “Since we last wrote you on the subject of German productions the outlook has undergone a radical change. The Germans are not delivering, and for this fact there are many contributory causes. One factor is that German manufacturers do not like the reparation deduction of 30 per cent., although this is refunded to them in due course by their Government. They have other markets in Central Europe, South America, and elsewhere where their products are readily bought and where no reparation deduction is made. British buyers who attended the Leipzig Fair had it more than hinted to them that British orders were not sought for, and even if this reparation agreement does not apply in New Zealand, the German manufacturer would still have his doubts when payment is to be made from London. Again, many raw materials are short in Germany, and if stocks have to be replenished from outside German territory then the prices soar. Either for that or other reasons it is the fact that German quotations are being raised for every successive order sent over. After the first two or three days of the Leipzig Fair many exhibits were labelled “over-sold,” which simply meant that either they had sold to the limit of their raw material capacity or had discovered that better prices were obtainable, for orders were still being booked at advanced quotations. The writer is personally acquainted with British buyers who bought whilst at Leipzig scarcely anything at all, and who are now making purchases of British goods at home, and there are many agents in London for German manufactures who wish they had never booked an order for Germany, agents who are now having their lives made unbearable by being hourly pressed and pestered for deliveries which never materialise. Not only is this the case with toys, but with hoeieiy, gloves, cutlery, and many other lines.”