A BLACK LIST

Hokitika Guardian, 7 September 1929, Page 3

A BLACK LIST

12,000 NAMES IN AUCKLAND. AUCKLAND, Sept. 4. In the Greater Auckland area today .there are at least 12,000 people who are listed in the office of the New Zealand Retailers’ Protection Bureau at Auckland as owing money to tradesmen. This astonishing position was revealed this morning when a card index system, compiled by the secretary of .the bureau, -was shown to a representative of the “Star ” All told there were 'over 14,000 names listed, but some had cleared their debts, and were now starting off ■‘scratch” again. As the name of the organisation implies, it was set up some fourteen months ago to protect retailers from being imposed upon by persons who are recognised as “bad pays,” and the fact that already • there are so many on the list shows that the tradespeople had good cause to grasp the seriousness of the position and do something to protect themselves. The secretary of the bureau, Mr A. J. Crocker, said this morning that the credit of Auckland was “putrid. ’ Not all the people who ran accounts with retailers were dishonest, hut there was a section who cared nothing about paying their wav, arid preferred to got the goods arid allow the tradoman to do the worrying.”

“Naturally it is the grocer, butcher baker and milkman who suffer most/, - ’ said Mr Crocker, “and biit for those shifty people who prefer to owe rather than pay the cost of living,would he much lower than it is. Strangely enough, the working man, or perhaps 1 should say his wife, is the more honest, and you would be surprised if jon saw how many of our 'best' people are listed hero. Accounts range from anything front £4 to £GD, but the difficulty retailers have is in keeping in touch with those people. “You could not believe how bad the Credit of Auckland is,” added Mr Crocker, “but you can take it from me, it was never worse, and the retailers know it. Those index cards speak ' for themselves, but they crily deal with certain lines of business. For anyone to start business to-dav as grocer, baker or butcher without the assistance of the ‘black list’ would be suicidal.”