MERCHANTS AND THE CAMPAIGN.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2420, 27 March 1915, Page 14

MERCHANTS AND THE CAMPAIGN.

THEIR CO-OPERATION SOUGHT.

A NOTABLE ADDRESS.

If tho publio !har not cared greatly in tho past where goods ; 'Have come from so long as they. ; were low. in price and tolerable in quality; it would appear~that many i business houses have been similarly lax J "Mr.-W.- G. Wiokham, the !.-■■■ British Trade Commissioner, has i kept a zealous eye in'the Interests f . of British manufacturer sinco fV Lis arrivalin New Zealand; and we j-,.'."- print below the full text 01 an outspoken address delivered by him a few'weeks ago-to the merchants of Dunedin. I propose; to- occupy your time by ciisidering v points in which 1 trade be-■-^weeri-this dominion, arid-" the Mother j- Country'can be put on a; better footing, 1: "trading-relations improved,"and possibly ;.; the proportion- of trade increased. AVhil? i fully ''appreciate, the-importance: of i maintaining or 'even "increasing the ■: large'share K 6f New Zealand produce ; which.England at present buys, I coii- ! sidei;"'that' ! this is-not a''matter of such { -urgerioyi : inasiiiuch as you'ean now get i remurierativ'e 'priced in England for as much'as you can produce. l and more; and'if- you/send-produce elsewhere it is blrausrffiat' pays you oven, better. -The I subj'ect;'bf imports of British manufaci tures 'is very much more' difficult, and s in the present war-setting-one of greater. Merest arid urgency. ' i . Now," iri' tho' first- place? I wish to :. rep&t with-aU possible 'emphasis that < the ■ United Kingdom cannot economic--1 ally; .manufacture. everything that you ■■ need, any more than she can quarry • marblej mine;.diamonds, or grow tropical "produce;' AVeneed to study her national •; , 'limitations and thoso of other countries i - and of, this' Dominion itself, physical, •'ecofißffiip, in; a symP; pathetic and intelligent fashion, in order f-{ not.'io 'set .out; with extravagant expectations.'and end with sarcastically ex- ; presskl disappointment. • I would further point out that, if I ■ seem unduly optimistic in-my defence . of British manufacturers in. my utter- [■ ances here, 'this does not imply that Ido not blame them when there is cause ' when I address them. Similarly,. whilo ; in my reports Home I try .to avoid dis- . cussing what'seem to 'meto be diortcoinings on this 6ide, I, feel justified • 111 expressing my opinions to your face [ in this' headquarters of ■ many of the leading importers of tho Dominion even L if my opinions, are not,altogether llat- :. tering. . '.*; Tho matters on which I propose to | suggest 1 corisideration are the follow- , f .ing:— / . 1. Pushing the 'sale of goods on price instead, of quality. _ . f ,' iiv. The. substantiating of claims on :, manufacturers. ... ,iii. .The existing system, of giving in:-, s - dents provisional on. confirmation, in ; London. iv. The taking of ngenoies without any I iritention of doing them .justice. v. The thoiighfless :'generalising ' of particular grievances into national faults. "Appalling Low Quality." ! . i. With the first point I dealt at I seme length a.few days..ago in Inverj cargill, and faiuch of what I said has. already been put before you in your daily papers. I certainly agree with the , opinions expressed by certain leading ! firms that the buying publio are to a ■ large extent responsible for the appalli ingly low quality of much of the goods i sold in this country. It is deplorable that people so well off generally speak? ing should have so' little idea 'or tlie economy of buying on quality, and particularly in this province, where so many ; families come, in the last generation if not in this, from'the home of shrewd, '• . common sense' in purchasing. I doubt ; if there is any people in the world endowed with so keen a sense of value, so I; loath to part with money without good ; reason, or so open-handed with money , in the cause ' which ' they have , investigated and found to be good. 'And yet all trades agree that the province of New Zealand, which in parti- ; , cular hoists an English origin, your :' neighbour of Canterbury is the best, | ( if not the only market, for, good quality. | -At the same time, I have been struck - ever since I came to live in New Zealand three years ago by the fact that I good-quality articles in many lines are i, not stocked, so that the public have no ; chance of improving their taste, and, , further, that hardly a single retailer ; throughout New Zealand seems to make, .•any attempt either in window display or counter-talk to sell on quality. In every advertisement the word "value" (has, in spite of definitions by every economist from .Adam-Smith downwards, been debased to mean merely "price," regardless of value.

I do not think that anyone will disagree with 'me when I say that, wherever the blame does lie, an improvement in the demand for good quality will benefit British manufacturers.

ii. There are frequently complaints that British manufacturers are particularly slow in admitting claims. The truth of thiß Ido not propose to examine here. I would, however, put to you a few possible explanations and a suggestion. 1. It is absolutely untrue that all British manufacturers adopt this atti.tiido. even if some or many do. 2. Mistakes and claims arte not in-

frequently due to the fact of agents and indentors' having little or 110 knowledge of technicalities of manufacture.

; 3. The British system of manufacture which is almost exaggeratedly careful in its execution and its constant testing antj examining makes any mistake kimethingein the nature of an inexplicable freak. While not justifying the incredulous attitude complained of, I think that the normal reliability of

British goods to some extent explains it.

4. As a corollary to this, it is worth noting that when disputes arise it is nearly always the case that the agent or buyer is not personally known to or fully trusted, by the manufacturer.

Unfalr Claims. 'And I am afraid I must add a fifth point, that unfair claims have been far too frequent from this part of the world in tho past, and this has helped to cast suspicion on all claims where the claimant is not personally known. The suggestion I have to make is this: The question of local investigation of claims or at least local certifying to plain facts might well be brought tip for discussion by the Empire Association of Chambers of, Commerce. I agree with the view that a manufacturer's own competitors aro his best judges, but so many cases of dispute do not admit of sending the goods home for survey. The mere fact of having to have claims investigated and reported on If; an outside Body or persons would prevent obviously unfair claim?. So far as I am able, I myself investigate complaints laid before me, but my limitations are obvious. Any scheme devised should unquestionably include complaints by public bodies; you probably agree witli me that contracting out of all outside impartial investigation in their specifications by. Stato Departments and public bodies is as unfair as it is unbusinesslike. You would agree, Gentlemen, I think, that if an engineering firm or an OTohitect were to go to considerable t.;niblc and expense in- ascertaining /•'ist was suitable for you, ajad in put-

TRADE COMMISSIONER SPEAKS HIS MIND,

ting their _ suggestions in the form , of drawings, it would be illegal as well, as unfair not only not to give them the contract or a fee, but to call for tenders and get" their suggestions' carried out by someone else.- Now this, gentlemen, I say. without'hesitation, is being done every day in tho week by those firms who give provisional indents to be confirmed in London, and send the patterns and suggestions to their buyers in order that they; may endeavour to get a cheaper quotation for the same goods. There is 110 question as to facts. Manufacturers go to ■ great expense in sending samples out to their agents: : Biiy r ers at. Home do not know what is wanted until they are told from r this-end: It is thfe manufacturers' initiative and outlay -which Enables you., to'know-what you and yet you apparently consider it fair to have his samples hawked round to his competitors—British or foreign firms-who have gonevto 110.expense, and can therefore, naturally, in most cases : under-quote liim. If youthink l am. talking away-from the facts, ask the indent agents what proportion of their ,'idents" are confirmed, ask the manufacturers how' many provisional orders are; ever - heard of again, and ask other manufacturers how often they ' have, their. neighbours'' samples.brought

to them to quote on. Now, gentlemen, it '-may- be a matter of opinion, but.it seems'to me that purchases at a fraction less than the price in tlie original indent are simply dishonest, because no payment iis made for-, the valuable ■ Iservice^'reridered 1 -, by first showed,jie samples which-were selected. .Tjiis is my ■Kiiowl^ge;the]!-praci;ic6';of, many large retail j?f wholesale".' warehousemen;'and ii'is regarded merely as smart uuyiiig. I riientio'n it in this connection because there is no doubt that many orders have in the past found their way to German manufacturers through this system.

Manufacturers' Agents. . Even if-it is part of a policy-to discourage tlip manufacturer from appointing an agent, this is clearly a mistake, as well as useless. - Some 2000' British ; manufacturers a're represented here'already. aiid any systematised -'- at-'' tempt to block them only forces them in self-defence to go more directly to the_pub!ic._-There is plenty o£. room for the wholesale merchant here just as> there is at Home. The average British manufacturer, infinitely prefers to deil with the wholesale trade. If and when he goes past the wholesale houses it is in nine cases out of ten because he has been forced to do so by loss of trade, <.nd because he finds he. is missing a share in'the very large trade which to "ah' increasing' extent year : by Vear isbeing .done direct ■by retailers through their own Home buyers. iv. 1 have a few words also that I would like to say on the subject of agencies. Especially during my recent visit to > England it has been impressed upon me that there are a very considerable number of firms in New Zealand who : appear to regard the taking of an agency as conferring a great favour on 'the manufacturer., and entailing no obligation on the'agent. Firms go Hdme, well recommended very often, and come out' with a wholei string of agencies out of. which they work those that are remunerative with least .effort. I .know of lines : taken up apparently out of ignorance of" their own market,' ijtich as house .furniture and tinware, where it should have been obvious that it" was' impossible-' to compete* with' , local' makes; and where it was unfair, to the : manufacturer to take .a big, range of, samples, give him jjroriiiac-s .of good business, and thereafter to; give -no ox--plaaiati.on. of failure. Others again take agencies potentially valuable in themselves,'but needing push and hard work. As' their view, is that goods ought to sell themselves' without effort on the part of the agent, they do nothing to make the goods known, devoting all their time to more freelyselling lines, not seeming to realise that it is exceedingly unfair to manufacturers to tie'tliom to the one channel for sale and then make no "effort to sell their" goods.

Neglected Agenoles. Many firms of course take, .'on far m«'G lilies than they can possibly do justice'to. I am glad to say that, I have not come across many cases of firms taking an agency for a manufacturer in order to prevent his goods coming on the • inarKet in competition' with a line they already hold. It is unfortunately . exceedingly . common- for firms in Sydney and Melbourne to take Australasian agencies, and to leave Now Zealand out of their beat because they cannot'cover the ground. It is natural that this practice should not.be common in New Zealand, but I may say that it is not unknown. ' Again, there are not a few firms who take a peculiar view of their obligations as agents. I havo come across several 'cases —I ain not referring, of course, to motor-cars or pianos—where firm® acting as solo agents for a good British make will overy time offer a cheaper American line as an alternative. This seems to-me-,a vory questionable-at-tempt- to serve two masters And, finally, it appears to be a com-

paratively common method,. like tho •''confidence trick," of earning a living to go a round of small manufacturers trying to induce them-to.give samples and a cash allowance toward the heavy New Zealand office expenses, and then to live for a while on the proceeds.

Whether Chambers of Cimmerce can do anything to stop practices'such as I have outlined Ido not know. It is unquestionably the case that, while tliey continue they go far to foster distrust, and so impair relations between firms who are perfectly honourable. V. And in conclusion, gentlemen, I think there' is some good to be done by remembering that,in. so far as conservatism and caution are national characteristics in the Old Country, you hero are o'f. the same stock. . ; It is a-truism that the British people have a genius for self-depreciation. The English and! New Zeala'nd'Press regale their readers with depreciatory comments on tho British manufacturer, and .with American travellers' fairy tales, because their readershave the appetite for'them. Do not forget that a pinch of salt adds piquancy to any meal. British manufacturers as a whole are not dead; many of them make many things very, well; on the whole they are a very straight lot to deal with, and all drum ners' tales are 'not true. If importers and the .public generally would be less ready' to. make generalisations out of single grievances and to accept without question such generalisations whiclithey hear or read, but would look for, explanations, or at least treat tho individual cases as individual, and even, exceptional • cases, much good would . result towards improving trade relations. My office and liiy branch of the Board of Trade in London spend a good deal of time in investigating grievances, and in helping to bring manufacturers to .book when they are in the wrong. If firms would give us the opportunity of doing this ■whenever there is trouble, and avoid generalising, and even deliberately transferring their .trado to'another coun-

try, the rising generation would be eared from some cufipusly erroneous, and mischievous views about England, her ways, and her. thoughts.