23

H.—44

Chattels Transfer Act, 1924. Section 57 of this Act provides for the protection of bailors of such chattels as are referred to in the Seventh Schedule without the necessity of registration, and it is provided by the Act that Orders in Council may be issued to extend the Seventh Schedule by adding further classes of chattels recognized as being the subject of " customary hire-purchase agreements." Several applications for the extension of the Schedule have been received by the Department during the year, and these have been followed in each case, in accordance with the usual practice of the Department, by thorough investigation and inquiry by the district officers in each of the four chief centres of the Dominion, as to the customary trade pra.ctices, and as to the desirability or otherwise of adding such articles to the schedule. Applications were made in respect of the following classes of chattels : Cameras, photographic apparatus, cinematograph cameras, scientific instruments, barometers, microscopes, surveying and drawing instruments, and telescopes ; law books and law reports ; refrigerators, water-coolers and ice-cream freezers ; radio sets ; water-softeners ; visible credit files. Careful inquiries were made in regard to each of these applications, and, with one exception, the evidence obtained was insufficient to warrant the inclusion of the above-mentioned chattels. The exception was the application for the addition of law-books and law-reports to the schedule. As a result of this investigation the following were added : Laws of England, by the Right Honourable Earl of Halsbury ; Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents, published by Butterworth and Co. (Australia), Ltd. ; The English and Empire Digest, published by Butterworth and Co. (Australia), Ltd. ; The New Zealand Law Reports ; Gazette Law Reports, published by Trade Auxiliary Company of New Zealand, Ltd. There is a considerable divergence of opinion amongst di fferent sections of the community as to the time-payment or hire-purchase system of conducting business, and with the ever-increasing number and variety of goods and commodities that are sold under this method opinion is becoming more and more sharply divided. On the one hand, there are those who extol the merits of the system, who claim that it is as much an influence towards thrift as a cause of extravagance, and who are desirous and willing to extend it to almost any class of goods if it will thereby induce increased sales, and, on the other hand, there are those who decry the extension of the system to anything other than absolute necessities. It is undoubted that the hire-purchase system has decided economic benefits, and the principal objections to it must fairly be pointed not at the system itself, but at its abuse, for it is the excessive and extravagant adoption of the principle of deferred payment which constitutes the most serious objection. With the increase in the number and volume of articles sold under this system, so does the number of applications to the Department for the inclusion of such articles in the Seventh Schedule to the Chattels Transfer Act increase. More and more careful inquiry has to be made on receipt of each application to find out whether the facts genuinely justify an addition to the Schedule, and in one or two instances in the past it has been found that the application was made merely as a preliminary to a special sales campaign that was to be conducted in connection with the particular articles. Economic Bulletins. During the past year the Department has undertaken the issue of economic bulletins at frequent intervals, containing information regarding trade, commerce, markets, and other matters of interest to those engaged in industry. The bulletins are sent to the press, Chambers of Commerce, manufacturers' associations, prominent business executives, overseas trade representatives, and other persons and firms to whom they are likely to be of interest and value. The issue of these bulletins as a source of information has been favourably commented upon by the press and by the commercial interests of the Dominion. In all eight issues have been made, which are as follow : —- Bulletin No. 1. " Trade with the East." Bulletin No. 2. " Summary of the Finance, Trade, and Industries of New Zealand for the Quarter and Nine Months ended 30th September, 1929." Bulletin No. 3. News Bulletin. Bulletin No. 4. News Bulletin. Bulletin No. 5. " Summary of the Finance, Trade, and Industries of New Zealand for the Quarter and Year ended 31st December, 1929." Bulletin No. 6. News Bulletin. Bulletin No. 7. " New Zealand's Trade Commissioner Service and the Facilities it can provide for Dominion Exporters." Bulletin No. 8. " Summary of the Finance, Trade, and Industries of New Zealand for the Quarter and Year ended 31st March, 1930." The next issue of the bulletin will comprise a further and much more comprehensive report upon the subject of the prospects of extending New Zealand's trade with the East, with particular reference to trade with Japan and South China. It is hoped that it will be of considerable value to business interests concerned. Cash-order Trading. The previous report of the Department referred briefly to the published report presented last session to the House of Representatives, The Committee appointed to investigate the operations