COST OF LIVING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1488, 10 July 1912, Page 5

COST OF LIVING.

SOME REBUTTALS* POINT BLANK DENIAL, IN RE CANDLES, COAL MERCHANT'S LOSS. HEAVY COST OF DELIVERING MEAT, The Cost of Living Commission continued its sitting in Wellington yesterday. Mr. E. Tregeur presided, COAL MERCHANT. THE RETAIL TRADE NOT PAYING. Tlio first witness was Stanley Stuart Brown, managing director for Samuel Brown, Ltd., timber, coal, groin, and general merchants. Mr. Brown stated tlvat Wostport and Stockton screened coal cost •£1 ss. per ton ex wliaTf, to which had to Ire added cartage to yards, Is. Od.j trimming, (id.; rescreening at' yards, loading, bagging, Is. j cartage to customers, 3s. 5d.; loss of slack, Is. 7d.j loss on sacks, Bd.; total, ,£1 13s. Bd. This left them a profit of 4d. per ton, but when rent, rates, taxes, insurance, repairs, maintenance, renewals, plant, buildings, office expenses, and allowances for bad debts (which ho estimated to cost 3s. per ton) had been reckoned in, there was a loss of 2s. Bd. per ton. Mr, Trcgear: That's how all tho Wellington people make their money. Mr. Brown, continuing, said that there were 32 dealors at present in Wellington, I including tlio State Depot, tlio Westport Company, and his own finn. Of the other 29, a number employed littlo or no labour. Tlio smtillor dealer did not havo an 'eight-hour day; he probably worked from 7 a.m. till 7 p.m., and then did his books at night. His own firm wero selling at 3s. per torn less than in 1906. Wages had gone up, and horse feed had increased in nrice. In 1900 were 37 dealers in Wellington, but only 11 of theso were hero now., Sixteen of them had dosed up entirely, and 10 had been lucky enough to sell out. Their own yards would have been closed down oyer two years ,ago had it not been that it was necessary to carry tliem on as an adjunct to the wholesale business. They had been affected by tho Westport Coal Company entering.into the distributing business,. Tho Westport Company had reduced the price to tho consumer by /is. per tori, but had only dropped the wholesale price Is. per ton.

CANDLE CO.'S MANAGER. IN REFUTATION. Edward Bull, secretary and manager to tho Now Zealand Candle Company, stated that his object in appearing before tho Commission was simply to refute statements which, ho considered, were calculated to do an immense amount of dam-, age to tho candle industry. Ho referred to tho statements of Mr. Arthur Bolton, a grocer, who had given tho Commission the following ovidence: "Up to two years ago the price of New Zealand caudles was controlled .by tho manufacturers and tho merchants jointly, but tho starting of a new firm, and tho action of the Burmah Candle Company in refusing' to have their- candles controlled by tho Now Zealand Merchants' Association, had brought the price down by ono penny,per pound, although there had been two 'meetings of the New Zealand, candle manufacturers held in, Wellington recently with the object of raising prices. . . . New. Zealand candles were only 15oz. instead of lib., and that represented .£3OOO a year to tho New Zealand public." "Absolutely Untrue," . :"That is absolutely untrue," said Mr. Bull. "Tho merchants never havo had anything to do with the fixing of our prices. As regards the starting of tho new firm, and tho action of tho Burmah Candle Company having brought priccs dowm ono penny, that, also, is. not correct. Tho drop was simply duo to tho decline in the price ■of paraffin wax, which-was cheaper in this last 18 months than ever before. That alone brought tho price down. There has been no meeting of tho New Zealand Candle Manufacturers either to prices, or for any otlior purpose. . . i . • I. know of only Ono firm who make llioz. candles. During the wliole of our. .term wo have not mado ono ton of 15oz. candles. Our object is to turn, out IGoz., and wo strive to do that."

Mr. Bolton, remarked Mr. Bull, had said that the duty on candles should bo reduced. If that were done it would shut up ovory candlo maker hero'in six months. The present duty on candles was ljd. per pound,, whilst tno manufacturers had to pay ono penny on paraffin wax. Their material ,was t-nxed to the tune of 50 per cent., on some' qualities. They also had to contend with the fact that considerable dumping took plaoo. In tho year 1900 the tariff was altered to a duty of Id. on candlcs and |d. on the wax. The effect was a drop of from 50 to G() per oent on tho output of tho' Dominion manufacturers. In 1908 tho duty was reinstated to lid. on candles and Id. on the wax. They had, also, suffered for 6omo timo through the importing of candles from Burmah, which wero sold at low prices on long contracts. These candles were made by black labour. In reply to Mr. Fairbairn, Mr, Bull said that the manufacturers had an arrangement as to tho prices in relation to tho molting point. The Merchants' Association did not dictato tho price of candles. His' firm was quite ready to sell to anyone in any quantity. - •

D.l.C.'s MANAGER. William Simm, nmnnger of tho D.1.C., said that, speaking broadly, there had been no appreciable rise in.tho price of drapery or men's clothing in tho last 10 years. There' had been a change in. tho character of the garments; a better cut nnd style was now demanded. Whcro hundreds of moleskins used to bo sold, tons wero now disposed of.' Tho cliango in the stylo of dress was most notieeablo with'the working class. Tho tariff reduction was passed on to tho public in the case of the drapery trado: competition ensured that. ' ■ • "LEGACY" FROM 1870. Frederick W. B. Greville, editor of tho "Now Zealand Dairyman," stated that tho first of the principal oauses for an increase in .cost of living was "tho 1870 legacy of the Legislative Council, who cast, all the burden of the moneys to .bo borrowed on to tho individual tax. payer, instead of,, as was intended by tho Loon Bill, oil' to tho unsold Crown lands. ■ Since 1870," ho added, "the unearned increment of tho land of tho colony has exceeded .£120,000,000, or nearly twice tho amount of tho Dominions' indebtedness spent on public works. If tho cost of living had not increased under theso circumstances, it would have been little short of miraculous." To, this had to bo added the greatly enhanced valuo of locally raised food products through the application of artificial rv f riteration. Then, also, there was what ho termed tho toll exacted from tho people by food packers—nearly all packeted and tinhed groceries' supposed to weigh ono pound were short weight. This country suffered through not having a food commissioner. During his 34 years residence in Wellington ho had not known a baker to be prosecuted for including alum in his broad. Tho inclusion of alum fitted tho bread to hold ojtra water. BOOT MANUFACTURER. William Brunskill, boot manufacturer, said that labour and material had both risen in pripo in the lost number of years, but that improved machinery had balanced both, nnd that the price of boots had not risen. Ho thought that tho Government should put more duty on boots, to shut out soino of the * imported stuff, A duty of 25 per cent, would not got over the trouble from tho manufacturers' point of view. DUTY ON TOBACCO. George Aldous, tobacconist, who had been in tho business about twenty years, stated that he considered that the present duly of 3s. Od. on tobacco was about right, if the duty was reduced th§ advantage would not be passed on to the consumer i the manufacturer would get the benefit. There was no compntition in tho manufacture of tobacco which crnno Jo. Nw ,?«a}gs<k_.

Amorioan tobacco oombdno, and a bis British, combine, end both had an agreement reapootingNow Zealand under llu> namo of tho British Empire Trading Company, LABOUR SECRETARY. William Thomas Young, secretary of (lis Seamen's Union, stated that ho hnd prepared from official reports tables of wage-.-, and prices of provisions, which ho (handed to the commission. Dealing with tlio rocent increase in tlio steamer fares between Wellington and Christchurch, Mr, Young said that, reckoning that" tin Union Company's steamer Maori carried 02,400 passengers ill a year, which would have resulted in an jncorno of ,£50,700 on tlio former SoalO of faros, there would ba a yield of nn extra X 2535 with tlio 5 per cent, increaso in fares. Tlio increase in wages had resulted in an extra expenditure of ,£960 to work tho vessel, so that thoro was a balance of JJ1575 per year in favour of the owners of tho 6teamer. Tlioso figures, lio said, ho bad given to show that "any little improvement in tlio working conditions of the men" was immediately passod on to t.ho public. The increaso 'in fares on tho Maori would pay tho extra wages for tlio Kamona, Komata, Rosamond, Koonya, and Ivini, as well, and still leave tlio owners .£O3. Mr. Young spoko at somo length to sup-; ' port a contention that tho lugn. iprico of butler in New Zealand was duo to tlm existence of a monopoly market. Ho 6aid' that New Zealand butter was choapor in England than it was in Now Zealand, because tlio English market was a competitive market'. Ho thought that if tjio Stato put on vessels to carry its coal, th» move would result in a profit on tho enterprise, and a reduction in price to tlw consumer. CLOTHING MAKERS. , Charles Catliio, clothing manufacture*, •' Wellington, stated that lio employed seventy to eighty hands, three-quarter of whom were girls. There was no association of manufacturers in his lino of business which fixed prices. In ten years 1 the price of labour had increased from , 20 per cent, to 25 per cent. The increaso was being met by improved methods and 1 letter machinery. Also, they wero doing a bigger turnover now to mnko the samo profit. • , , As to the increase in the cost of living, his observations wero that tlio people wero all living bolter and dressing better than people of a former year did, and, therefore, could not liavo tho money in their ■ pockets. , Alfred Ernest Donne, secretary of tho Wellington Woollen Manufacturing' Co.. said that in tlio last ten years laliour had increased about 20 \ier cent. There was a shortage-of-labour in'the industry. The market was absolutely free and opon, DELIVERING MEAT. William" Henry Millward, chairman of directors of tho Gear Meat Co,, stated that one of tlio chief troubles in tlio butchery business .was tho cost .of. distribution, which, lie said, was 1 ,23.42 per cent, of the cost of the meat, or about Id. per pound.* , Mr. Mill ward thought that much good would result from tho teaching of somo of tlio elements of thrift at school—taught not to wasto material, and so On. ,

"NO EXPLANATION FROM YOU!" I Mr. C. P. SkeiTott appeared at tho hour at which Mr. J. G. W. Aitkcn was! expected'to attend and give evidence. Mr. Skerrett stated that Mr. Aitkcn desired liim to' attend, and inaico a statement on his behalf to the Commission. ■ Mr. Tregear (tho chairman) said that tho Commission was not prepared to hear any statement. . ~ . . Mr. Skcrrolt protested against being do- • niod permission to make a statement. Tho Chairman: I will hear no explanation from you, Mr. Skerrett. Mr. Skerrett: Well, then, I must very respectfuly protest against the action, of tho Commission:' ■ „ ' • Mi\ Skerrett. - added that.Mr. J. A. Tripe (solicitor to tho Merchants' Association) desired him to say that ho concurred in tho. protest.