Don't Feed the Business Shares

Cue (NZERS), Issue 37, 15 December 1945, Page 10

Don't Feed the Business Shares

Returned servicemen are still being fleeced and exploited by unscrupulous civilians, and specific cases have come to the notice of both the R.S.A. and Rehabilitation Committees. This has been particularly true where returned men have been desirous of purchasing a business, and investigation has shown that in a number of cases large proportions of the high purchase prices demanded were for so-called goodwill.

Present conditions are all against the purchaser of a business. Licences and controls have given many small undertakings a spurious value and the price placed on goodwill, as represented by the amount of money the vendor feels can be obtained because certain permits for trading and stock-buying are held, is causing an inflated market. In some instances where businesses have been purchased with private or privatelyborrowed capital, returned men have had to work long hours for little less than normal award wages, with no compensation for the extra labour involved or the added responsibility carried.

Members of Rehabilitation Committees have been perturbed by the trend in recent months. They see that the dice are loaded against the returned man and that the future must indeed be precarious unless something can be done to control prices within reasonable limits.

Small businesses, in many ways, are ideal for men who return from service unable to fellow their pre-war avocations, but settlement in this avenue will become increasingly difficult unless purchase prices are controlled. To ensure that you are not “stung” in purchasing a business that involves leasing premises, make certain that the tenancy is protected and, to avoid many other pitfalls that may lie ahead, see your local Rehabilitation Officer. Also at your disposal are the Service Commercial Contact Centres, composed of members of the community who at all times are ready and willing to give advice and assistance to returned men without charge.