WHOLESALERS ALARMED AT CUT IN RETURNS

Chronicle (Levin), 13 July 1946, Page 6

WHOLESALERS ALARMED AT CUT IN RETURNS

-Press Association

By Telegraph-

Wellington, July 11. -j Wholesalo merchants see a threat to ' their security and that oi' their slafl's in the new order of the Price Tribunal imposing a 21 per cent. cut in the mark-up ou drapery lines. This cut so reduces the return to wholesalers that they cousider theiet business will be severely restricted. > They urge that Ihe way lo reduce the price of clothing is liut to plaee the future oi some thousands of workers aml the nuinageiueiits iu jeopardy, but to cut the saies tax and remove the hurdon of it froni the iudustry and the people. " Kepresentatives of the New Zealaiul Wholesale Sol'tguods Federation niet the Prime Minister and Ministex* of Industries and Coninierce, and asked that the recent decisions of the'Price Tribunal to reduce the prolit margin' of the wholesalers by 2^ per ceut. be ' postponed. " said a statement issued , by the federation yesterday. I "This request was made in vicw oi' the increased burdens iinposed on wholesaling occasioued by: — *'(1) Taxatiun which during the war' years has takou an ovorwholming pcrcentage of the wholesalers' net prolitsi aud has not left iu the hands of Ihe; wholesalers an amouut appropriate to ' the capital iuvested 011 the prcsenl liigh and dangerous market. "(2) The cust of rehabilitation of relurned and returning senicemeu who are being absorbed by the wholesale distrilmtion orga uisalions. ''It is stressed that if prolit marg'ms 1 are further reduced, and 110 commensur-j ate relief all'orded by taxation, the I Jivelihoods of niany members of waro-, house slafl's will lie endangered, as it will be«-ome increasingly diilicult to retaiu stall's if the proiit margin is so re- j duced' that .suflicient to cover worliing expenses cannol lie obtained, j Move Claimed IU-advised. J "lt would p ro baldy be an understate- ' nienl to say that at least 1U,UUU New I Zealaud moa and women ure depeudent, i direetJy aud indireetly, for their liveli- j hood 011 wholesale warehouslng, so that to undermino the structure on the ex- ! isteuce of which so Jarge a number de- i peud for their liveliliood, at the prcsent transitional stage froni war to peace, i is, to state it niildly, delinitely ill- . advised. "It is this future welfare of so many j New Zealanders that necessltated the wholesalers wailing on the Prime Minister aml the Minister of Industries and Commerce, aml while the wholesale wareliouses are every blt as anxious as the Government to reduce the cost of goods to the general publio, it was the exprossed opinion that this could [ be better implemented by substantial 1 reductions in Government saies tax ! tinui by joopardising the liveliliood of j tliousands of New Zealanders through ! an enforceil reduction of wholesale prices iu the niuuner that is being pursued. "In spite of views that are held by some who are ill-informed as to tlie functions performed by the wholesale liouses. these coucerits do indispulably furnish an absolutelv essential link in the chain of dislributioii betweeu manufacturer and tlie general publie, bofh

as regards imported and localiy manuf actured goods. "No other method of distribution, particularly throughout the country | districts, has yet been devised iu New . Zealand or even in the larger centres ; of population sueh as Great Britain, ' Europe and the U.S.A. ' ' The wholesalo house played a very | great part in the building up and i settlemcnt of Australia and New Zca- j land, and continues to do so today byj giving to the publie in both town and j country districts aceess to the world 's j goods and markets, uuder oue roof, a j funetion performed by no other trader. ! Many of New Zealand 's wholesale I housos have been pioneers in the promo- j tion of New Zealand 's secondary industries, notably woolleu mills, footwear j factories, clothing, underwear and j knitting factories. , "It is £elt, tlierefore, that if tliose resiionsible for dictating this poliey persist in the eourse now being followed, the results to the commercial struc- ; ture of the country may well be very mucli more destructive than is apparently at present appreciated. "