POST-WAR TRADE.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16724, 6 January 1920, Page 7

POST-WAR TRADE.

MUCH HONEY BUT SHORT SUPPLIES.

A "Press" reporter triad" enquiries ■ osterdav as to }io*.v trad.* in lioum*.old requirements had fared in iho : rst year after tho war, and found hat tho problem of the d windling - j reign—or pound rote —was going to ecomo much more acute in tr.<» second iiisr-war vear. Alter all big wars here is money to spend—and li»K>was lie spending year. Some of tho morhants interviewed expressed th? opinnn that tho le-aetion would start- to et. in at the end of IQI-O; and they 11 agreed in the prophoiv that this :> ;oing to be a most- ui;i;eult year. FOODSTUFFS. "Imported lines in the grocery d> inrtir.eni are (I:li;cti 11 to obtain, nl- - one merchant. "The prices of arinaceous foods, pioserves, aid tineu iiiiis show a big increase over those ruliii in 11113. but in the past year they avr remained fairly stationary. 1 ho dilI'.'iiltv is not in selling but in getting uppiies. It does not maltr v ;h u he price is, the people will buy. 1 in-v il l.avo monoy to istiend. Tlie supply s the trouble. As long as the eon .- ries exporting foodstuffs can find a lifiieicnt market nearer bom." they will lot bother about New Zealand orders, .atest quotations indicate that there rill bo an all-round riso in imported grocery linos this year." «'LYTTF. LTON TEN A USED." Another merchant in tho grocery ine interviewed said that Christchurch vas suffering under an extra handicap, jecauso Lyttelton seemed to bo boyrotted —"penalised" was the word lie ;sed. For instance, ho had _given a arge order for Mildura fruits last tlaVeh. and tho consignment had not irrived yet. "It scorns peculiar that Lyttelton should bo penalised by the 'xportors of foodstuffs/' bo rcmruk>d. 'Hie exporters would not accept >rders for L/yttolton, consequently the supplies woro short. Several exporters would not heed orders given for transhipment from Lyttelton. rUGAR. At this season ef tho year thero is in exceptional demand by housewives For sugar, because iruit has inconrcnicnt habit of not waiting until boats :oino in. Tho least inkling of a sugar famine in the jam-making season sees Diiergctic women who havo preserving iars waiting to bo filled, rushing to tho groccry counter. Then Llio man behind tho counter becomes embarrassed, or takes all that is said to him with stoical calm. Thero is in this jam-making season nn unprecedented shortage of sugar, and for that reason many housekeepers who have jars to fill and fruit waiting for tho picking nro lamenting tho position. Tho groccrs seem to have dono the best thoy could for their customers. One business man ordered 32 tons ef sugar about a month ago, and bo far he has received 8 tons of tho order. Tho previous order was for 35 tons, of which lie has so far received 5 tons. Thero is a lot of abuse nnd explanation going hourly over his counter, but all tho talk in tho world, however sweet, cannot mako np for 54 tons of a shortago in sugar In ono shop. Tho grocers nro looking with confidence to n relieving of tho sugar i cuteness to the Government's action in appointing a Hoard of Trade oflicer to work in conjunction with the Colonial Sugar Company in tho distribution oi sugar for tho wholo Dominion. Tho price of sugar should remain Btablo for tho next -few months, consequent on the arrangements mruU between tho Government nnd tho Colonial Sugar Company last July. The wholesale price at Auckland now is £23 los a ton f.0.b.. nnd the Totnil pri™ for the ordinary lino is 3Jfl per lb. Thero Jiro two main reasons for tho prevailing susrar shortage. Ono is that tho people have too lavish in the use of the sweetening, and tho othor is that the cane crops aTC this year a failure.

SOFT GOODS. It is in the soft rroods retail shops that tho spending crozo seemsi most noticeable. Tho actually "prohibitive prico" docs not seem to bo obtoinablo, no mattor how high prieos soar. Ono largo retailer, when interviewed, was inclined to be pessimistic, and advanced tho opinion that a crash must come. Another took a brighter view; h© said tliJit people do not seem to mind pnying high prices, but they insist on netting the best qtialitj goinrr. Tho "cheap and nasty article appears to be going right out of fashion. The Christmas trade was very brisk in all lines, and it was apparent that a considerable drain was l > einß made on tho gratuity monovs. Tho prico did not seem to connt —tho people had tho money, and they wanted tho e °Ono of the largest city retailers said that the problem of obtaining imported clothing was moro difficult now than it was during tho war. for tho Continent drained th** output of tho English factories. Men's anparel now sold camo mostly from Dominion factories, and, dpspite tho ceasing of military contracts. tho Now Zealand mills were unnhle to cope with the local demand. English quotations indicato a steady riso in prices. The wholo situation is governed hy the law of supply nnd clcmand. and* although the wheels of industrv aro now free to spin freely for tho civilian population's needs the demand is so keen that tho manufacturers do not want New Zealand orders, for the Continent is too ready n customer. In fact clothing is dearer on tho Continent and in England than m Now Zealand. . ~ "All this talk about profiteer in rriis parrot cry," said on© retnilor. Tho prices charged aro prohibitive, but tho i retailor does not put tho prices up. TTo strikes nn avcrago on his respective ; liijos and often sells an article at a I low:.'' . , ... i En onirics as to fumitnro. furnishings, ; jvthl hardware also showed that thoro is : little prospect of the cost of living j problem being relioved this yoar by a [ reduction in prices. j ■