The Daily Telegraph. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1883.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3803, 22 September 1883, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1883.

However much we may complain in this town of the dullness of the times it is some consolation to know that wo are not exceptionally treated. Commercial depression prevails generally throughout the colony. Wellington is just as dull as Napier, and at Christchurch the absence of business activity has been followed by numerous bankruptcies. The Weekly Advertiser, remarkiug upon the position of trade, says it is a matter of regret that ihp pressure of the times should be so soon felt by the numerous class of persons carrying on business in a retail way throughout tho country; it implies a degree of tension that should not exist in an advancing colony like New Zealand; it indicates a system, unhappily too common, of over-trading, doing business with other people's money, a system that utterly breaks down when the slightest pressure is put upon it, which leaves behind nothing but a track of havoc, paralysing industries, crippling commerce, and seriously impeding the advancement of the commonwealth. It must bo self' evident that, if a man with a small capital and etill smaller mental capacities, commences to trade, tho moment he loses his small stock of wealth, he, possessing no funds of his own, merely acts as a dispensing agent to the larger firms, and any further loss he makes is really their matter and not his. The ease with which credit is obtained is mainly responsible for this, and the confidence which our merchants soon repose ia a customer who meets a few engagements promptly is often the cause of entailing serious loss upon them. They seldom regard tho man from any other point of view than that of a customer, if he has paid a few bills without assistance, and mentions to them in conversation the fact that ho has prospects, that he has lands; his name is marked good on the ledgers, and he can remove anything he wants from the warehouses, just as if ho had carte blanche to go on and help himself ad lib. Thus the retailer becomes merely and simply tho agent of the merchant, his shop a branch, and he himself a manager without pay, acting as a distributor of the goods belonging to the house in town. Whether ho be competent ciruofc to curry on euch an agency is a

matter seldom inquired into—"whether lio be a man in possession of Ms reasoning faculties even is a matter of no importance ,\l. inability to read or write, to understand hia T own affairs, to know the conditions under •which he buys, the non-possession of one single quality fitting him to cany on tho business ho is engaged in, are considered matters that concern no one but himself. "His bills are always met; why should we trouble concerning himP" But what is the sequence to all this ? A meeting of creditors, held within the gloomy recesses of a lawyer's oliice —like a bubble bursting —is the "collapse. Tho credit that yesterday was so high is not sufficient now to procure him one shilling's worth; in tho briefest possible time opinions havo changed, and the merchants and their agent meet for the purpose of an explanation. Until the ominous circulars aro received that notify the fact no question of capacity is heard. When the meeting takes place tho creditors determine that their agent is either a rascal or a fool; possibly they might consider that he is a little of the former, and a great dual of the latter, or vice versa. They say that, had they known his real position, he would have ceased long since to act as their distributor ; now, all they can do is to take the Is Gd in the £, which his estate will probably pay, and shut their books against him in the future. The debtor gets his discharge if he can, and probably commences again. If unable to obtain his clearanco he moves on, and endeavours to repoat in other spheres, and other claims, the same manoeuvres he found so successful hero. There can be no doubt that while among the retail traders there aro many sterling men, of good capacity, trad- ■ ing with fair capital, who, by their integrity w industry, and aptitudo aro carrying on thriving , establishments, assisting , to develop the resources of tho province, and rapidly accumulating wealth for themselves; it must also be confessed that there are very many men trading in an altogether different manner, possessing neither capital or knowledge, without inclination to work, or brains to prompt them if they did, who buy carelessly and sell recklessly, pay when they can, and who are honest from motives of policy only. These are the men who want weeding out of the mercantile community. They abuse their credit, not only to their own detriment, but also to that of those who trust them. Repeated failures of retailers must react upon the larger houses. We may take one glass from a gallon without causing any apparent diminution of bulk, but repeat the process indefinitely, and tho exhaustion becomes complete.