WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 30 August 1929, Page 2

WELLINGTON NEWS

POST office savings banks

(Special Correspondent.)

■WELLINGTON, August 27.

With the publication of the Post Office Savings Bank returns for the June quarter .the.returns for the halfyear are complete, and it is interesting, tq note,-that the deposits exceed this yyithidrawals for the first time in. For the half-year-under reviejv. the deposits,.exceeded: the withdrawals by £761,641; ip the corresponding-., half of last year the. withdrawals exceeded the •, deposits by £634,419, and in the first half of 1927 the excess of withdrawals was £789,356. In the first , hsijf of 1926 there was an excess of of £247,718, and in the first" half of the excess of deposits was £939,497.. . The fact that there is ,an excess of deposits this year would seem to indicate that people are becoming more thrifty,' but this is scarcely a correct view of the situation. The people, or those who can save only a little at a time, .have, always been thrifty, and had there been no interference / with the normal working, .of the P.O. Savings Bank there would have been no excess of withdrawals as was the case in the past,two.years. It. will he remembered that! with thewiew of obtaining funds the Government of the day some years back increased the limit on deposits to £6ooo,’.that is interest was payable on deposits up to that amount, and .the deposits were at call. The Savings Bank was exploited by men with big Hinds who left-their, money on deposit for short periods. It was the operations of these men with big. money who were responsible . for the heavy; withdrawals. ■■

A year or-so ago this was changed and now we have got hack to t the normal which must be satisfactory to the omcials as "it is advantageous to the. Government. The small savers have added to their credit £761,641, and some people would be inclined to regard this as idle money which is not the ,case. The money can be used by the Government.and no cjoubt is .beipg used in .the service of .the State apd’ thus earning the interest that has tbhe paid on the • deposits., The substantial increase in the credits is very gratifying and indicates thaf many, 'peoplp are. putting away a little for the Inevitable rainy day. ' / ,• It is very probable that the new season may not turn out as satisfactory as the last,'that-is our* income, from exports .may not be up to the leypl 'of 1929, and the balance of trade may; not be quite as favourable. ' We know that'the next wool, clip will not realise as much as the last clip, and with deaf money, in Europe our other exports- are bound to be affected; 1 ■*

~i ; .PRICE-FIXING,,:'

0! .. Mr E. P. Neale, Secretary of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, in the lost number of the “ Accountant’s .Journal,’;’ deals with price-fixing, and gives the. case for and against pricefixing. There are occasions when price-fixing appears to be justified. To protect themselves against loss of business op a line on which they have bqilt. a goodwill at considerable cost manufacturers and'wholesale distributors endeavour, to make it a condition of sale that the goods will be resold only at a fixed price which is reasonable enough to induce the retailer to stock the goods and push their sale on sound business lines, and the price is never so high as to prevent the public from buying the,'article.

While under exceptional circumstances price-fixing is justified, as a general rule it is against the public for the interests Of' the consumer are not con-sidered.-T?ie prices are frequently fixed at art’ 7 arbitrary level. Ilf the manufacturer is abroad ■ there is no means of ascertaining his production costs and there is no guarantee that he is not offering his distributive agents exorbitant profits, especially if the article is one for which the demand is inelastic. ■ , sT" In a time of falling world prices, such as the present, the fixing for a long time ahead the price of any commodity is'likely to prove a progressively growing burden on the consumer and there is no guarantee under such a system that any of the economies of mass production are passed on to the public; Because of the inability to get at the overseas manufacturer the periodical review of all price-agrements by an independent authority, in the light of changing conditions of production, can provide only a partial solution. The system of price-fixing, it is contended, prevents inefficient retailors passing onto the consumer economies effected by them and it renders it virtually impossible for different prices to be charged by different retailers according to the service offered. Thus the system tends to perpetuate inefficient retail businesses and nullifies the effect of competition. in weeding out the economicallv unfit.