CREDIT TRADING.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 150, 10 September 1928, Page 3

CREDIT TRADING.

TIME PAYMENT AND HIRE PURCHASE. “NOT UNDESIRABLE.” WELLINGTt IN, Saturday. In view of the fact that one of the leading chambers of commerce in the Dominion lias expressed the opinion that a marked extension of the practice of conducting business on the basis of time payment and hire purchase is causing considerable perturbation in commercial circles, a section of the report of the Department of Industries and Commerce, which discusses this, is of interest. The report says that, while sellers of foodstuffs, clothing and similar articles, ohjest most strongly to tirnf payment or hire purchase methods, dealers in autqjnobiles, musical instruments, furniture, and certain classes of machinery are equally emphatic in their support of the virtue of the system. It appears to he true in this, as in other instances, that it is the excessive and extravagant adoption of the principle of deferred payment which constitutes the only serious objection to a system of business which in Certain respects has decided economic benefits. The time payment system may claim to he an influence towards thrift as much as a cause of extravagance, and a means of enabling producers to use modern appliances or machines earlier than they would otherwise find possible. The purchase of goods on a deferred payment basis undoubtedly influences the direction in which the income of large sections of the community is spent, and, in consequence of this, some classes of goods may. to the disadvantage of other goods, secure a sale far greater than would he possible if cash trading were strictly adhered

Credit trading is clearly not to he regarded as unsound or undesirable trading, and, provided that the buyer is reasonably able to meet his credit obligations, the main factor for consideration is the nature of goods sold on credit and the use which the purchaser intends to make of them.