MONEY STRINGENCY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1921, 2 December 1913, Page 7

MONEY STRINGENCY.

OCCASIONED BY THE STRIKE;

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT.

There is no escaping from tho fact that the strike, now iu its sixth week, lias occasioned a distinctly fclfc stringency in the local money market. All classes have felt the eifects. 'I'he retail traders, who are always tho first to feel any check in the spending power of tho people, havo suffered considerably, not so much, perhaps, iu tho amount of business done, but in a.falling, away of tho cash trado and a cor- 1 responding increase in book dobts. There has been no troublo on the part of steady payers in the, past getting credit to tide, tjism over the present troublous time, but tho closure has been applied pretty strictly to those who aro known to bo slack m ordinary, times in the settling of their accounts. Where tho mercery and clothing business; men havo felt a .slackening oil' is in tho amount spent on a Saturday in working clothcs. As thero 'aro usually some 1500 wharf labourers in receipt of pay on Fridays, there.i 3 always a fair proportion of that money spent in buying mole and dungareo pants and underclothing, but tlio demand for such lines has fallen off considerably. Tlio working man who is on strike and who may havo a bit of money is doing his utmost to hold on to it in caso the worst happens —tha loss of his job; whilst tho man who has taken Lis placo and is making good monoy has no necessity to spend much, having been supplied "with an outfit of clothes, as well.as free board and lodging (up to tho present) by those concerned in the- breaking of tho---strike.

Plight of tho Strikers. Now that the new Arbitration Union lias 3omo 1600 members, over a thousand of whom'declare intention of sticking to tho waterfront as a means of livelihood,, it is difficult to imagine where tho members of the old Waterside Workers' Union aro- to conic in. Thero may bo\uso for a hundred or so of them in busy times, but tho Arbitrafionists must get tho preference always when thoro is any work going. They have proved' that they aro even better men — moro willing workers—than tho men on ■strike, and thero is every moral obligation on the part of tho employers to give them tho first consideration always, oven though tho strikers should swarm into the new union. It has been suggested, but so far it is only suggestion, that new members to tho Wharf Labourers' Union should not bo clcctcd by the whole of tho members; but by a Select Committee having tho confidence of tho members, whoso dutyit would be to safeguard the union, from tho admission to. its ranks of undesirables. Buttoned Pockets. To return to the money stringency induced by tho strike, it is' pointed out that November is usually a frce-spend-ing month. A great deal of summer clothing usually changes hands, and both men and women lay in a stock of thoso goods that are going to -sco them through the ensuing four or five months. Naturally the summer trade has suffered, and it will not bo surprising to see at the conclusion of iho strike a rush of early summer sales, not only in Wellington, but throughout Now Zealand. The professions aro all feeling the tightness. At such crises everyone who is careful buttons up his pockets and decides not. to open them again until the troublo is over, and a safer condition of tilings is assured. Tho small speculator stops speculating; tho dabbler in shares leaves off his dabbling, or restricts his dabbling. Ho has to consider what effcct the strike will havo on the particular industry represented by the stock ho as a rule favours. Tiicro cannot bo said to have, boon nnv notable slump in stocks, as most of tho big concerns wcro well prepared for the trouble— some companies had as much as twelve months' stock of coal—and tho work has been üblo to go on unchecked, but still thero lias been that element-of uncertainty, now fortunately disappearin?, which has kept things at a standstill. Hero and thero factories havo had to stop working through goods not coming to hand, hut thoso are few and far between, and most, of th"in havo sinco recommenced work. Tho effects of the strike on the money market havo been in tho direction of hardening tho rates of interest. The investor in mortgages is asking for 6 per cent, on tho best of freehold city securities, whereas ho was satisfied with 5-i per cent, beforo tho strike. He feels that ho is taking a little extra risk with the air full of strike, talk, and values that risk at from half to one' per cent. Question of Rent. Property-owners who havo strikers as tenants arc not- in a very unviable position. In t-hei majority of cr/ips these tyrants have not considered the landlord at all, whilst tho landlord as a rule has recognised the position and has giver, the tenant a certain amount of latitude, but that can only go so far, and as tho strikers' chaneeii of ever getting hack iiis billet become more and more lomolo. it is natural for tho property-owner to secure liini'buli as well as lie can against- loss of income. Rent-collectors in some par's of thn city have in eonscfinencp hern having a rather bad time for the past month, and may at any time rev,- begin to put the screw on. The .Strike Committee have paid nothing oui: to the. men for rent—its expenditure has been mostly on rations, frugally dispensed at the Social : sts' Ilall, in Milliners Street. It is astonishing to find so many really hard-working, honest family men who havo been intimidated into siding with the'r follow workers over the strike when in privato conversation they admit that it lias been a huge blunder from the very first.. It is the man with tho home, with a wile and children who should lose no time in getting back to work before tho crowd stam-

pedes uito tho ranks of the new union. Jiy this means ho will gain preference in employment in the future. In the Country. Country traders and business peopio have felt tlio ell'ecfs of the strike in a variety of ways. In the first caso tlio smaller farmer who runs sheep has not been able to realise on bis clip .owing to the postponement of file local wool sales on account of the strike. By this time there would have been sales at "Wellington, Napier, and Christ--church, and the cheques would have been paid over, and so a great deal of money would have been circulated that has been locked up. This has kept a good many people waiting for their money, and tliev in their turn have been cramped in their dealings with others for the want of tlio money. And so the stringency spreads and spreads. It is cheering, however, to noto that business generally is on the improve. Indeed, the strike may almost said to lie over. Tho ranks of tho watersidcrr, have been filled with better men, and tho drivers liave practically all returned tu work. Whoro they have not their places have been filled, and in the case of the big carrying companies all the vehicles are now in uso tho whole of tho day. Tho resultant effect has been a recovery in trado during the past week, and business is rapidly returning towards tho normal.