The Feilding Star. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 7, 1883. OUR CREDIT SYSTEM.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 67, 7 February 1883, Page 2

The Feilding Star. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 7, 1883. OUR CREDIT SYSTEM.

— ♦ The attention of storekeepers in Tetany parts ot the Colony is being directed t_ the system of indiscriminate credit which at present obtains on all sides. In Auckland an Association exists composed of all the principal retail dealers. This Association publishes a list of names, who are " bad," which list is only circulated among its members. However useful this document may be for information as to the present financial condition of parties, practically it is of very little money value to dealers, for the harm it is intended to reundy has already

been done, the "had and doubtful debts" having already bepn made ; and no storekeeper in his senses would cause the name of « customer to be " posted" if he intended to p-ive him any more credit. The only I oof-sible good would be the warning j given to other storekeepers. Here lurks a clanger to the persons who circulate this publication, of which they appear to be ignorant. We allude to the law of libel, which, if put in force against the parties, would certainly not let tbem ofFscathple-'s. The Chnirman of the Christchurch Chamber of Commerce, a few mm'hs ago, in his report on tho business condition of the Colony, said, when treating of tbe subject of the larce number (tf small bankruptcies in the Colony : " Having analysed the declarations of insolvency throughout tbe Colony, for the last six months, I find that 25 per cent of the number are by people not in trade, and who consist of people described as laborers." This is a melancholy tact, which has been painfully experienced by our local storekeepers in too many instances It may be attributed to competition in trade, which induces vendors to give unlimited credit to men who are in receipt of wages not exceeding £3 per week, until a liability is incurred of say £20 and upwards, which it is utterly impossible for them to pay ; and the money which should ha v e gone towards paying for household expenses is wasted in "little pleasures" not unconnected with " beer and skittles." A time comes when the storekeeper wants his money, and puts on the " screw." Ihe Bankruptcy Court then affords a ready means to the debtor of protection from creditors, and he finds the few pounds he can raise on his belongings or from his friends well invested in providing a total relief from his debts and troubles, after which he starts anew to live the same life and to victimize confiding tradespeople. It is noticeable that when men of this class have undergone the process of " whitewashing" they appear conscious of a kind ol dignity having been conferred upon them, and they are looked upon by some of their fellows with a degree of respect as men who are to be credited with abilities above the ordinary run of laboring men. It appears absurd that vendors with all their past experience should still go on following the same weary round year after year, when the remedy for the evil lies in their own hands. They must know that when a man is in full work that he ought to p.iy his store accounts punctually, yet as a rule this is the veiy time that he gets deepest in the mire of debt, because no tradesman, desirous as he may be to push trade, will ever make any considerable advances to anyone out of work. In Feilding thero is no excuse whatever for laboring men to incur debts which they are unable to pay. There is always plenty of work, and wages which although rot hign, are always paid with punctuality. The man who can so manage his expenditure as to Jive within his means, is of far more benefit to the community at large ! than a dozen men who so mismanage < their affairs that they are dependant ! on the good nature or simplicity ofi tradespeople to supply them and their I f imilies with the necessaries of life ■ while their wages are squandered uselessly on luxuries. It must be understood that these cases are very exceptional in tbis settlement, yet they have occurred, and will continue to occur, until storekeepers make some arrangement among themselves to shorten the times of credit. Winter is coming on, and our remarks are intended as a frieudly warning to those most interested, viz., the honest labouring man and the deserving tradesman.