RESULT OF CLERICAL ERROR Grey River Argus and Blackball News. PUBLISHED DAILY FRIDAY, APRIL 21st, 1911.

Grey River Argus, 21 April 1911, Page 5

RESULT OF CLERICAL ERROR

Grey River Argus and Blackball News. PUBLISHED DAILY FRIDAY, APRIL 21st, 1911.

If' the New Zealand public were under the impression 'that. 'there are no trade combinations in the Dominion, they can no longer be of that opinion after the remarks of the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce (Mr Felix Campbell) at its meeting on Wednesday evening. It appears that the Sugar Company have made a new departure in the conduct of their business that will certainly displease the public, and most probably damage the fair repute that this company have enjoyed, hitherto. There would appear to have been no necessity for"' the step taken, which is a distinct departure from the policy by means of which the Sugar Company has developed into one of the most wealthy and powerful trading corporations in the whole of Australasia. The company has reached the high position it occupies by the liberal policy of allowing practically the same trade advantages to the small traders as to the large. It has been hitherto open to the smallest of dealers in' sugar to deal direct with the company and receive all the benefit to ;be derived from its system of trade discounts. From what Mr Campbell informed the Chamber of Commerce, if we . properly grasp his meaning, all "this has been changed since the new year. The small traders can no longer deal of yore, but must pass their transdirect with 'the Sugar Company, as actions in sugar through the books of some mercantile firm in Wellington, Auckland, Ghristchurch, or Dunedin. The intermediary house receives for its services in the matter of discount what hitherto was allowed the small dealer, who in the ordinary course of trade .shared the advantages in reducing the price of sugar to the consumer. By the step taken the -company will alienate the public conifidence hitherto enjoyed by them ; and it is >to be expected that some decisive action will foe taken to relieve the public from the toils of the tra de combination in which it is now enmeshed. The trade advantages obtftiged J>x dealing; 'direst with the com-*

1 pany at Auckland are now passed on to a syndicate of commercial houses in all the chief centres of population in the dominion; and all that they do in return for the great profit that is thus given them, is that the business with the Sug&r Company is passed through the books of one house that is selected to perform that particular duty. But the aggregate profits are divided* between the firms ■composing the syndicate. The only advantage which the company seems to derive from this new ifiriancial arrangement is that it will have fewer accounts to deal with and can manage with a smaller clerical staff. There was no earthly reason why the Sugar Company should have departed from its old method of dealing direct with ■the public, unless it was that the big commercial houses of •'New Zealand, who have long hungered for a cut in at the profits of the sugar trade, have been worrying and threatening the company that if they did not allow them to participate in the profits in some way-they would import other sugar. . But this is merely bur surmise as to what merchants would be likely to do in the circumstances. Owing to the hitherto satisfactory business modes of dealing with the public, and supplying sugar of good quality, the company has acquired practically a monopoly of the sugar business of New Zealand. They have become very rich and powerful, and make a profit at every point in the trade where it can be made. They have even plantations in the" Fiji Islands and in' Queensland. In fact, they seem to have become almost too powerful. 0 It is therefore no matter of surprise that they have presumed upon -their position by taking. a liberty with the public interest that there was no real necessity for, and that, according to the law of "long arithmetic" (as Emerson phrases it) was an equally unwise and improper step, and one that is likely to react injuriously on the. company. The. gentlemen who control its affairs and regulate its business methods should always bear in mind that the concessions which have "enabled the Sugar Company to (become the marvel of power and :wealth to which it has developed came direct from the people of New Zealand through their representatives in Parliament. What Parliament has given, Parliament can take away. As .public opinion is the strongest force 'of modern days, •it will be bad for .the Sugar, Company if, in order to placate a few mercantile houses greedy of gain,, .they lose the good opinion of the .public they once enjoyed. The tax that the company have put upon the people —or more correctly something that, they are deprived of which they were^ justly entitled to—may not.be a burden too grevious to be borne—but they will- resent losing that much simply •to enrich the already fat..merchants of New Zealand iby giving them a share of the money of the. public. for which they do practically nothing except putting- it in their pocket. That may be "business," but ordinary persons outside, of the commercial circle would give it a far more applicable and less agreeable name to ears polite. It is to be hoped, now that our Chamber of Commerce, having broached this rather iniquitous sugaT arrangement, they will endeavour to push the matter home with.the view' of getting Parliament to overhaul the charter of this colossal Sugar Company, and see if it is not time to withdraw any legislative advantages that the company has so long enjoyed. It may not be generally known that New Zealanders, proportionally, have the sweetest tooth in the world. They consume more sugar per head than any other community that we know of. So "that this sugar question ought really possess a good deal of interest for them. As large combines of any. kind are usually inimical to the public interest, it will be decidedly to the advantage of the people of this dominion if they set Parliament on the track of this great. Sugar Trust, which is kicking, away the ladder by which it climbed to great wealth, and that'power which great wealth usually commands. .

My Order for 200 of the Latest Novelties in. Wings and Feathers was read by my agents as 200 dozens, consequently I am overstocked and must sell at once. THIS IS NO BARGAIN SALE but a genuine offer of 200 dozen feathers and wings to select from at Less Than Half the Ordinary Price. I inivte inspection, so ladies come along and get a good selection of either Feathers or Wings to Fly with. S. I.BETON, .;..:■■ Mawhera Quay.