SHOP AND WAREHOUSE

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 836, 7 June 1910, Page 5

SHOP AND WAREHOUSE

RETAILERS' GRIEVANCE. WAREHOUSEMEN IN REPLY. .Warehousemen in Wellington are indignant at the reflections that were cast upon them at the meeting of the Shopkeepers' Association last week. It was alleged on that occasion that retail trading was carried on by wholesale houses in the city to an extent that was ■ injurious to the shopkeepers, and that this constituted unfair competition. Yesterday morning the Warehousemen's Association held a meeting and discussed the whole subject. Tho press were not represented, but Mr. H. C. Tewsley, chairman of the association! was afterwards seen by a Dominion reporter. Ho said that the members were strongly of opinion that tho ad ion uf thts Shopkeepers' Association in publishing, as they had done, reflections on the Warehousemen's Association un-British. The usual custom was to give the defendant an opportunity of replying before having recourse to the press. The members of the Warehousemen's Association further thought that the members of the Shopkeepers' Association wero not expressing the feelings of the retail trade generally, and that all tho incidents enumerated by the president and others who took part in the discussion,, could have been satisfactorily answered by tho warehousemen, if they had been given the opportunity. Tho warehousemen's meeting decided that the chairman should write to the president .of tho Shopkeepers' Association, iisking him to furnish fuller information in regard to the basis of the complaints, in order that the matter might receive further consideration.

"As far as the line of demarcation between wholesale and retail is concerned," added Mr. Tewsley, "I can say that, to my own knowledge, it is and has been for some years past, thoroughly well maintained. We endeavour, lis far as possible, to give everv consideration to tho retail trade. By the way, I think tho special reference that was made' to barmaids is very regrettable. No class of' persons fairly earning their living in the community should have been singled out af; they wero in the discussion at tho Shopkeepers' Association."

Nothing to Complain Of. Other warehousemen, who were called upon yesterday, declared that the retailers had little or nothing to complain of in the way they were treated by wholesale firms. More than one asserted that tho shopkeepers did not show tho wholesale firms anything like the consideration which thoy seemed to expect the latter to show them. "They do not support tho local warehouses to any large extent," remarked the head of one large fancy goods warehouse. "The travellers of firms who have no establishments here, 'and are spending no' money in the place, offer them a line of goods at, perhaps, a little lower price than we can supply it from our stocks, and they take the bait at, once. If we had to depend on some of the larger retail houses here, we should very soon he obliged to close down. There are some in the. Shopkeepers' Association whom it is worth our while to study, and wo always protect them in every possible way, and refuse to supply the goods they take to anybody not in tho trade. I don't blame anybody for buying in the cheapest market, but I am inclined to a'sk, Why should we study those who don't study us? Nevertheless, it is our firm rule not to sell to private persons."

Only to Bona-fide Shopkeepers. "Wo have a great objection," said the manager of a softwoods warehouse, "to supplying any but bona-fide shopkeepers with so much as a pennyworth of goods. Wo won't tolerate it. Hotelkeepers sometimes offer our travellers quite large orders, but wo have given instructions that all such offers are to bo declined. We don't want that business. Every week wo are turning away people who como here trying to buy, and who are not retailers."

What Assistants Get. The question of goods being supplied at wholesale prices, to warehouse assistants having been mentioned at the shopkeepers' meeting, - the warehousemen whose attention was drawn to the point said that the assistants were entitled.to get goods for themselves, their wives, sisters, or children, but not for their more distant relatives. An account was kept of all goods so supplied, and was carefully inspected by the firm, and if these purchases went beyond a strictly reasonable amount, the matter was closely looked into. Boots for the Tailor. It was admitted in more than one quarter that retail sales are made to

shopkeepers themselves at some of (lie largo warehouses. A tailor, for "instance, may buy cloth for his business, nnd may go along to another department of the same warehouse and got a pair of boots for his personal use. This practice was strongly defended by 'the hesd of cue firm. "If a man has a ledger account with us he is welcome to boy anything that wo supply, and I should take that stand even if I were alone in it." The same gentleman added that his firm was most careful to keep the business on a wholesale basis, anil purchases by emplovees were kept within strict limits. He'thought the retailers might well show a littlo more reciprocal consideration.

"They import everything they can for themselves, and then they come to us for what they arc short of, and they expect us to consider them at every turn."