TRADE BUOYANT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2494, 22 June 1915, Page 9

TRADE BUOYANT

AND MONEY EASIER TO GET THE CHANGED HOLIDAY EXTENSION OF SUBURBAN FARES URGED . Despite war time and the change la %he statutory half-holiday, retail trade in Wellington continues good, in some cases better than for this time last year, before the war broke out, and in nearly all instances quite as good. The change ;of _ the late night from Saturday till Friday has made the need apparent, however,'for an alteration in the system (of suburban week-end railway excursion fares, and for a universal payment of wages before the Saturday. Tho first is the more important point. The w'eek-end, Saturday to Monday, excursion tickets issued by the .Railway Department are a great inducement to suburban residents, from Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt, -Pet-one, Johnsonville, etc., to come to Wellington for shopping purposes on one day in the week, and .wliilo the shops remained open all day Saturday business people here got the benefit. Now the change of the late 311'ght has meant that suburban shoppers cannot take advantage of the cheap fares and do their business as well. Merchants are in favour of an extension of tho system, and hold that tho Railway Department would not lose _ in 'revenue if they made the excursion tickets good from Friday till Monday. •Tho payment of wages on Friday will also benefit shopkeepers, but the Friday nvago day is now m operation on the wharves, in many factories and shops, So no great difference is made. But tho Carnival has made more effcct on the trade of some shops than either the war or the change in the holiday. And the season is that the working people are giving so generously, and participating in so many art unions, that a big hole is made cach week in the pay envelope, and the purchase of other than absolute household necessities is postponed. Where the Change Benefits. The real effect of the • chango from Saturday to Friday late night will not be known until a trial of .some six months has been made, according, to many merchants. The opinion of a largo retail hardware merchant is of int-erest at the present juncture, both as regards the change and the general trado conditions. _ Wednesday trade, he says, has greatly,improved owing to the change. Monday snows some improvement, Friday naturally is better, and Saturday not_ so good. This means _ that cash businoss is more evenly distributed over ,tlie week; credit business is not affected. Friday night is not up to. Saturday night, nor is it ever likely to be, but this was _ not expected. Those- large firms ha.ving dealings with the Government, either in the supply of military goods or material for other purposes, find that keeping open all day Wednesday is going to be of great assistance to them. Government Departments have always shut on the Saturday, so that business firms' could do_ nothing , with them on that day. Business firms, on. tlie other hand, when they closed on (Wednesday, unless they could keep men bade on that day, were again prevented from dealing with Government orders awing to the holiday. Now both sides observe the samoholiday, to mutual advantage. "I think tiers is nothing .very much to growl about yet," said the merchant, when referring to tho chango! They have not yet had experience of the new condition at 'the beginning of tho month, and according to information given it is_ surprising what an increase of trade is usually noticeable at the beginning of tho month. On tho whole the merchant held that thero were, a lot of advantages in closing 'on Saturday. As Cood as Last Year. ' An interesting view on the trade con--1 'ditions now was given by the large importing hardware merchant. "Trade this last sis months," ho said, "or in fact ever since the war broko out, has been every bit as good as in any past year." Money, he pointed out, seemed easier to got, owing to many reasons. The Government was spending a lot, and it got filtered through many channels, to the benefit of . shopkeepers generally. Another thing not generally recognised is the fact that merchants can be more independent. Owing to ! stocks running low, they are not anxious to take risks with their goods. Wellington has also been favoured from other centres in that the training camp at Trcntham means to a great number of firms extra takings. This is not only for the camp upkeep, and from the soldiers' spending, but from the* fact that soldiers relativos visiting the City means mors business done. Prices on tho heavier lines of hardware aro going up, instanced in the case of fencingwire, which before the waT cost 10 guineas a ton, and has now risen to £18 per ton. Galvanised iron could be bought from £18 to £1.9 before the war, but now up to £33 is wanted. Roofing felt has nearly doubled in price; from 6s. 6d. per roll to 12s. 6d. A great deal has been made of tile fact that'goods cannot be got out from England with any regularity now,, but one merchant holds that, considering everything, importers are getting their goods fairly well. Cutlery makers at Home, however, have not been able to guarantee orders, because the Government has made big demands on tho works. 1 ' Raising the Prices. The agent of one importer has written to him as follows; —"We wish to inform you that owing to the Government having practically commandeered tho output of all Sheffield houses, they cannot give us any definite promises." Another manufacturing firm has written to Wellington houses"Owing to tho fact that wo are being dominated by workpeople as regards wages, plus tho difficulty of procuring dye-stuffs, everything is up, and we are ruider the necessity of raising tho prices of the undermentioned articles." But America, it is j held, is not yet reaping ryiy material Advantage owing to this fact. Another thing English manufacturers arc doing is stopping cash discounts on all lilies. This is another way' of raising tho prices. Tho manager of one of the large 'drapery firms, when questioned as to the changed holiday, said that it was too narly to make a statement. Regarding trade generally, it had been remarkab'lv aood right up to tho last fortnight. Thn slack time, it was held, was duo io the Carnival. Largo sums of money wore being raised, and the efforts in tho town wero mostly supported by "A couple of tickets m a ss. raffle means a curtailment in the spending power of tho average worker for tho next week." Drapery firms a bin have not been benefited to a great extent by tho Trcntham camp trade. Nevertheless the fact that business has been *,n generally good speaks a great deal for buoyant finances in Wellington. It is feared, however, that tho "dead end" of the season, towards tho close of winter, may come earlier this year than it has do no in the past. Then it moans that business has to be bol- ' stored up and sales pushed on, till tlie spring shopping heralds brisker times. TALKS WITH OPTIMISTS. TItADE WILL SPREAD OVER THE WEEK. "Take my tip," said ono shopkeeper yesterday, "those people who are comi jjlaiuing. about tho Saturday, closing.

won't have anything else in six.months' time. Thero may be isolated cases where smaller shops will suffer, but you only have to consider for a while. Saturday people did not buy stuff because it was Saturday; they bought because they had to. If they can't get i,t on Saturday afternoon or nignt, they'll find time to make their purchases some other time. We have a shop in Auckland, and when the Saturday closing came we thouglit we were going to bo ruined. Now we prefer the Saturday closing, and would vote for it if it came up again here next week. We'll feel it for a week or two, I know, but as soon as the public get used to the new arrangement, it's going to be all right 1" This bright optimist was backed up by the opinion of a Manners Street mercer, with a long experience of the business in Wellington. "It's difficult to judge how the new arrangement about Saturday is going to affect our business. You cannot tell in a couple of weeks, when both week-ends have been affected by the weather. ' I am pleased to say that our figures for the week were quite up to what they ought to be at this time of the year, which appears to indicate that trade will spread itself more evenly over the week, rather than concentrate on tho Saturday, which is certainly better for us, our assistants, and the public. When we used to do half our week's turnover on tho Saturday it was hammer and tongs all day long for the assistants, and consequently not such good attendance to the public as we would like to give them. Ws could not engage extra assistants for the Saturday only, and in consequence thero wero times in tho week when there was vei-y little for tho assistants to do, but they had to make up for it on the Saturday." Another shopkeeper, who formerly closed on Wednesday, said, in answer to a query as to the difference made, that the change was going to be for universal betterment. The observation of the half-holiday on different days of tho week was a contributing cause to a certain class distinction amongst people who wero really all in the one class, it was going to be a new factor in tho promotion of social intercourse iin half-a-dozen ways, and was not going to affect trade in the slightest degree. He remarked' that tho crowd in town on Friday 1 evening was almost as large as it used to be on a Saturday, and that would bo tho case as the public got used to the change.