PRICE MOVEMENTS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 203, 22 May 1920, Page 8

PRICE MOVEMENTS

THE FALL IN AMERICA

NOT REFLECTED LOCALLY

WORK OF THE TRIBUNAL

Tho fall in retail prices reported from the • United States is not expected, by local traders to be reflected in Wellington. Very few lines arc being imported into New Zealand from America at tho present time, owing to high manufacturing prices and the adverse exchange. Tho decline reported in the cablegram, moreover, is stated to be due to purely local conditions, created by speculation, and it does not mean that manufacturers' and merchants' prices have fallen It i 6 with the manufacturer or the merchant that tho New Zealand importer must deal.

I "Tho news from America, as I read it, means simply that speculators have been 'caught long' and a.ro cutting their losses by unloading on tho retailers," said a business man who has handled American goods in other years. "It is just possible that some of the cheap shiftrelatively cheap, that is—will find its way,to New Zealand, but very few buyers are onorntiug for this country in the. United States at the present time. You have got to remember that if American goods were DO per cent, cheaper than the corresponding British (foods, the adverse exchange and the preferential duly would more than wipe out the advantage. In any case ' a temporary fluctuation or slump in one market is not going to reduce prices in other countries to any material extent. An nctuul decline in world values is required to reduce New Zealand prices."

The reporfn and quotations that are reaching Wellington importers from the United Kingdom convey no suggestion of reduced nrices. In the cotton trade stocks are low, and while all markets are clamouring for goods, manufacturers cannot give deliveries. under from six to eighteen months, and prices are quite n "senondarv consideration. Buy. ors are willing to take the goods at any prices that tho manufacturers fix. The alternative) is to do without the goods. The demand for raw cotton is far ahead of tho supn'v. and _no relief is in sight. The Americans are using an increasing proportion of their own cotton, and it was reported recently that for the first time they hacTbeen bidding for FgypKan cotton. The overseas demand for British iron and steel manufactures is enormous, and the prices are tending to rise. The exporters have more orders than they can handle. British woollen goods are also in short supply, ami there is no indication yet that the. fall in the price of wool is '.'oing to affect manufacturers' nrices. Half tho

world is short of woollen clothing, and tha_ British factories are running at. their full capacity and paying very high wages. "Reasonable Profits."

A TJomixion reporter who made some inquiries ainong- retailers in the city yesto/rday gathered that prices have eased in. some directions. Men's suits, for example, are a little cheaper. Somo cot/.on goods, such as laces, are down a trille Bants and shoes have not advn/iced to the extent that was antieipwted a month or two ago. lint it ay.pears that the reductions, where they hnve occurred, have not been the result off reduced importing costs. They are local movements in which the antiprouteering law and the growing dis'like of the public for excessive prices have had « part. The .ruling of the Board of Trado and of ihc anti-profit-eering tribunnl that a "reasonable, profit" under the law must be calculated ou purchase eosl; and not on replacement cost has had an influence nu prices, though ilp fairness is still disputed by many of the traders. "I'es, prices are down a little," said one business man when his attention was drawn to the marked prices of somo suits, "I think that many retailers are making a real effort to help the public. They realise that the war period is ended and that we have got to got back to stable conditions. There was more than the normal amount of speculation about business under war conditions. _My own impression is thnt the public is buying .more cautiously and that is bound to be a factor with the retailer. A man who feels tliat a certain profit is finite, fair will sacrific« something to. hold customers. Then I thjnk the tribunal has had an effect upon prices, since it has caused retailers to check percentages rather carefully. A retailer simply cannot afford to disregard replacement values, but ho may be prepared to take a risk in order to meet the .tribunal half-way. All those factors have been at work lately. But of course if wholesale prices continue to advance, as we are told they will, (ho public will have to pay. The averago retailer is working on a much narrower margin than people generally believ<>"

Work of the Tribunal. Tho oporations o£ tho anti-pro Gtcering tribunal have been more extensive than tho brief official reports have indicated. Complaints have reached the tribunal relating to almost every branch df the retail trade. The rulo 'in eacTi caso has been to ask tho firm concerned for information, and in very many instances tho result has been a reduction of the retail ' price. ! A trader who makes such a reduction at the request of the tribunal in likely to remember the revised percentage when next ho is marking prices, and so tho effect of the official activity is cumulative. The effect of the nnti-pro-iiteering law would" have been more apparent to the public if the operation had not been accomplished by a continued rise in import prices. One aspect of the work of the tribunals is not clearly understood by sonic people. A tribunal does not move until it receives a complaint from some person, but it is not necessary for that person to provo.a charge of profiteering. A man or woman who believes that a retail prico has been iinduly high may simply put tho facts, as to tho nature of the goods, the price charged, and tho name of tho firm, before the tribunal, and an official inquiry will then be set on foot. If tho person making tho complaint can bring evidence to show that profiteering actually occurred, so much the better. But n mere complaint, accompanied by all available facts, i s sufficient to bring tho matter under investigation. "Are Prices Declining. Asked' the above question by a Dominion reporter yesterday the assistant manager of a retail drapery store in the city held out a prico list just received. "A bare two mouths ago," he said, "wo wero notified of an advance in the prices of all classes of sowing silks, embroidery silks, knitting silks, and twists. Hero is the latest action of the distributors of these everyday needs of the dressmaker, tile tailor, tho needlowoman,'tho wife, the mother, in fact, every woman who sews for a livelihood, as a-'domostic necessity, or embroiders as an artistic recreation." Tho prico list in question, under da to May 18, 1920, shows among other advances that from that date, without previous warning, there will be demanded from retailors silks, an increased cost of 25 per cent.; button-holo twist, an increased cost of 16 per cent;; tailor's twist, an increased cost of ;)3 1-{| per cent.; knitting silks, an increased cost .of 11 per cent.; embroidery silks, an increased cost of IG.\ per cent.'; lenax floss, an increased cost of 20 per cent.; filoselle, an increased cost of 22 per cent.' Our informant added: "It would bo certainly helpful if Tur, Dominion would give somp publicity to (heso fncts, for when tho retailer passes this increaso on to the customer, as pass it on hn must if ho is to stay in business and pay his debts, then'thero will arise tho now familiar chorus: It's rank profiteering. I'll go to tho Board of Trade!'" "It is interesting to note," ho continued, "that an embroidery' silk -which is now supplied at n list price (wholesale) cost of S 5-Gd. was s''l before tho war at 4id. per reel bj tho retail draper."