Mannamatu Herald. FRIDAY, MARCH 28,1890. Trade Losses.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 28 March 1890, Page 2

Mannamatu Herald. FRIDAY, MARCH 28,1890. Trade Losses.

The bankruptcy returns for the Colony reveal only a very small por- . tion of the money lost by the trader through giving c edit to those wbo fail to pay him. It is astonishing, when reflecting on the Bums so lost, to think that business men have not adopted suier means to keep control

over property. The failures of tli c majority of traders arise from this cause, and is hastened because they deceive themselves into false security by imagining that the general public pay their insurance of this risk, by so much more per cent for the goods they buy. If the trader will look fairly into the question he will soon discover that such is not the fact, and that it therefore behoves him to be more cautious in the future as to whom he gives c::edit. Unquestionably every trader when calculating the prices at which he intends to retail his goods, adds to th« cost price, so much for profits, and so much for bad debts, but that does not prove that he can adhere to the same, or that it covers his risks. Every man is not of the same temperament, or possesses the same "business tact, and given, that every storekeeper in a township opened Ma store m tb.3 same date, and sold at the same price in one twelvemonth's their positions would bo vastly different. By this we desire to show, that owing to push or ventuvesomness, one trader will have hia stock out on credit, a large portion gone beyond fiecovery,' whilst another will have tne most represented by cash at his bankers. Who theu can sell cheaper the following year? Of course the man who has the least risk, and he thus increases his business, or forces, which unfortunately is generally the case; the giver of cred-'t to lower his price, and thus saps away the protection he believed he "had secured, when he gave credit. The last case of this manis worse than the first. The above points, at the first s'anee, to itgbeinga deeded benefit to the careful man to do nothing to assist his competing tradesman, but further considerations leads us to think thnt that is nit so. In the «?t- u«»gle for a living, the abhorer of lon-? credit;, suffers by such Wng given, and in endeavouring to secure his share, again lowers the prices of his articles, with the result of forcing his opponent to do tbr same, and thu* reducing the logi»rrante profits attaching to the expensive business of selling and delivering small >ots of goods. ! The result is, that either the first man gives credit against his convictions, or loses business, and the other man seeks the protection of the Bankruptcy Court. All this difficulty is J occasioned by the insane desire of! traders to get the custom of those who dislike to pay for thftir goods! The customers who pay afc stated intervals -ould readily pay at shorter dates, if it was firmly insisted on, and those who desired not to pay, would have less opportunity to get so much out of the confidina: trade'-. Who are th« persons only intfrested in continuing the existing state of things ? •The persons whom every trader would be delighted to shake o>ff, Me men who does not ever want to pay. The people who pay gam nothing, in fact it is undeniable that they would gain if business was placed on a better footing, as store keepevs could sell cheaper nnd mako more profit. We have often wondered, when we have noticed the anxious faces of traders at different times, why some principle could not be arr'ved at mongst themselves. We are pure apian could be arranged, by which each firm's business could bf* conducted without hindrance, and. without inspection by a competitor, and j yet a stop be put to the stealing by a portion of the community. Business with prices af; par, will always re main to the advantage of those possessed of- business management, and therefore we are nob suggesting pntting a heavy drag of uniformity, when making these suggestions. Prices, after all can be but a small factor, in small dealings, but good stocks well kept, quick attention, and prompt delivery, do much more. Itseems to us then that instead of each trader damaging his neighbour, which by the present system he does, even if he desires not toldo so, they were to meet together and arrange aprotection against the common enemy, they would do much for their own comfort;, and for the pockets of the hon* es k ___——_—