Business Notices.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8522, 15 January 1906, Page 1

Business Notices.

JAM and Fruit Jars at Wholesale Prices. Tie-over Jars, lib Is 3d, 2lb Is lid; Tin Screw Tops, Is sd, Is lid ; Mason's, Is lid, 2s 3d, 3s 3d; all per half-dozegL Also in stock, Improved American Widemouth, Gilchrist Jars. Atlas (all sizes). Preservingpans, brass and iron, enamel. Light steel enamel from 3s 3d. Extra Kings and Scrow Tops. Fletcher Bros., Direct Importorsi Lower High Street. 1988 TADIES' Silk Lace and Chiffon Ties, • ■*-* nioe assortment of colours, Is 6d and la lid, at Beath's. *

WANTED Known— House cleaning: is a nuisance. " LINOARMSH V eaves beeswaxing and won't wash off. From all grocers, Is 6d and 2s 6d. " LINOAENISH " easily and qydcldj applied. Tn it. ~ 6862 .

A CURIOUS TRADE. — ♦ WHERE OLD TOP HATS GO. The ultimate destination of all the old top hats, like that of all the diecarded pins, is " wropt in mistryj" . but the fate ilxab heialh a oertaia pro- i portion of them (writes a correspondent of the " Leeds Mercury ") can be foretold with tolerable accuracy. l Near to the Oxford Street end of Shaffcesbury Avenue, London, is a shop devoted entirely to the sale of secondhand " toppers." It is not a very handsome shop, and some fastidious individuals might bo inclined 'to cavil at the class of goods exposed for ©alo there; but it suits ita particular clientele, and the proprietor does, to quote his own words, " A roaring trade." " You ''see," he explained, "it ain't everybody as wants a topper as can afford to pay a guinea, or even 'arf a guinea, for one. Wot'e the result? 'E comes to me, and I fits 'im out for t'hree-and-six or 'arf a dollar. And you'd be surprised at the toffs as comes 'ere at times, reg'lar West End swells, and no mistake about it. Then there's the usual customers as I can always rely on — clerks out of a job f betting men down on th&ir luck, waiters, actors — all sorts, in fact. "Where do I get my stock from? Oh, there ain't no difficulty about that ! There's any amount oa ts being continually left behind in 'otels, clubs: and such like. Some of 'em are left accident 5 ly and some purposely, and I 'as a reg'lar contract with 'em to take 'em off their 'ands at a price. Then there's the plant-sellers — men && goes round the subbubs with palma and flow-era and things-, and changes 'em for old clothes. All the top 'ate they gete they brines to dealers like me, and, pervided they ain't too fur gone, we're always ready to buy 'em." Aoked as to the number of hat© he sold per week, the proprietor scratched hie head for a minute or two, and ultimately came to the conclusion that, taking one week with another, he would probably average about a hundred. There were, he thought, fifty or sixty men in London in the same line of business as himself. Taking the 'lower estimate as correct, and assuming th&m to average about the same turnover, you have the very respectable total of 5000 second-hand top iiate disp-oaad of in London every week, or, say, a quarter of a million per annum. It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to observe that most of t3*e@e old " toppers" need renovating before being (Saleable, and further investigations revealed the existence of a regularly organised trade, carried on almost entirely in the East End of London. The silk is first stripped off the cardboard which forms tho basis of all top hate, after which it is passed through running water to remove -the duet, batiod in dilute sulphuric acid to take out the grease, re-dyed, dried and ironed, and then mounted afresh on new and up-to-dat-o shapes. Many of these " translated " Kate are sold for what they actually are at the shops of second-hand dealers; but a very large number find their way into the windows of unscrupulous hatters, where they are labelled " latest West End style," and sold for half a guinea or twelve and sixpence apiece. Of course, only the very best hate are worth taking this trouble with ; and thus it comes about that the "tile" that once graced the head of ia peer of the realm or a well-to-do city stockbroker, docs duty on Sundays and holidays as the crowning glory of some lees illustrious person. But after all the best hat's have been picked out and utilised in the manner we have indicated, there still remain on hand a large number which are absolutely not worth the trouble of " revamping." Theee are exported to the West Coast of Africa, and find a ready sale among the negroes. Travellers in the interior of the Dark Continent tell us that it is impossible to get so far away from civilisation as to leav© the top hat behind ; and t!he tale of the happy cannibal who conceived himself to be attired in full European, costume because he wore a tall hat and a paper collar is too well-known to bear repetition. In this respect the harmless African resembles the Irish peasant of the more remote western districts, whose one ambition is to possess the coveted badge of respectability. A dealer in these derelict headgears, who has established hjme&lf in a wholesale way near the Minoriev assured the writer that Connemara, and certain, portions' of Cork and Kerry, absorbed between them some 10,000 old top hate per annum. A very smart hatter in ißond Street, whom I gubeequently visited, retailed to me &&me still more fascinating news about the fate of the topper. "You know, of course," said he, " how rapidly the fashion in silk hate ohanges. Every year we have a larg© number -of hats left unsold. We keep them for another year ; but after that, there's no ohance of Belling them to anyone who professes to dress well. They look too hopelessly out of date. But we always find a market for them, all the same. " Have you ever notiogd the headgear of the thousands of German clerks and waiters in London? Well, they're our customers for old- fashioned topper*. For some reason or other, a German is only too happy in a hat of antediluvian shape— reminds him of tho Fatherland, I suppose. They get them for about h&lf-prioe, brush them the- wrong way, and think they're as well dressed as the prince of Wake."