AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

Shannon News, 26 February 1929, Page 4

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

AJLAJP\QFCONTRASTS. BUJLDING THRIVES WHILE \2BADE!;IS DULL. EXPERIMENTS IN BUSINESS. After spending about a , month in Australia '.and J observing- a- good deal of Jthe life of 'the two- biggest cities, Mr J. W. Rimmer has returned to Leryin'with the. limpression'-that there are some \ very - knotty problems to bo sqlvecHn'ithe evolution- of what is un--.doubtedlys-unew race of people. Although there is a'building boom in Sydney,* whose 'population has 'reached 1,300,000 business dn other respects is -not a3-good as'it. might ; .be, and he .heard a fair number.'of complaints • about,-slackness-'of trade. Two-very t artificial .developments'in retail trade • were-studied"; by ,-Mr</Rimmer, and as a.'result ihcrdid;.not receive a favourable impression" of x either of them. One is the cash order, system of trading, '-which: is notolikely to appeal t:> anybody*-who obtains reliable informsit; the other'is the "cash and-carry" .svstem. Raying through the nose. | •The cash order .method of trading, • as ('many Sydney people know to their ,cost,. is- a means of obtaining goods which .they'would', do without-if they 'had' ; to.-pay for 'them on the spot. It is v 'not • the 'time-payment feature of .the, plan-which is' its great drawback, ■■•however,"but the-heavy charges made, by* the companies that issue the- or-' dem -.The,- people • who'. take out the . ciders • pay 'interest ranging from 10 to. 15, per'cent,- owing to-the enhanced ..prices-of-the ..goods they buy, besides .an . entrance fee of ss. The sum of 'tbet.'orderv.is paid back by -weekly in.'italmeixts r fluchras week foxva'-£5 order, and the first, instalment is paid "in advance. Under these, conditions -the .issuing-company ia''obtaining re« ■tur,ns |Up,.-to- 60.- per cent per annum on *t'he capital advanced. Despite this rather'..patent,.rake-off,.there is a con-? sta^t,supply-*of'clients, and during Mr, "JfSiifcmer's visit fresh applications for flMires were \ being invited from inviators. Owing to the cost of the priv- \ ilege' 'to . the -rptailer, which surcharges "he'is bound topass on to the customer,' 'the >s<sope of • the orders is limited;- ' they could not be utilised for the pur-, chase '.of.. groceries -or • any other lines 'shewing a .small margin of profit.. ''Gramophones, sewing-machines, motoica'rs a'ndVsuch-like refinements of civilisation- are among the .articles principally acquired through the convenient ifExacting plan .of deferred payments t made accessible by the ■ orders. Col-! lectqrs are employed by the issuing companies, but.a fair proportion of; 1 the' subscribers are , good payers and prefer to make their remittances direct to the companies. The'number of stores that will take the orders is growing; but Mr Rimmer remarked 'that, ifVthe community generally were to' avail themselves of this means of buying,' their spending power must be reduced to the extent of 60 per cent. A "cash' order did not by any means give the purchaser the advantage of cash' trading, but gave all the disadvantages' of ' high-profit credit buying, apa'rt' from the fact that 5s was charged"for the privilege. I HELP-YOURSELF STORES. ' In the- retail grocery trade as carried on in Sydney, Mr Rimmer did not think there'was a great deal to be learnt. 'He was not impressed with the cash-and-carry system. This is a method which does away with the traditional grocer's man, the custom- ' ers helping themselves. This sounds i Utopian, but the purchases are checked j and the- money taken as the buyers pass out by way of a turnstile, at , which there is a, girl with a cash re- ' gisten. The only other help required i in the shop, apart from the manager's j duties, i 3 some cheap labour to keep the stands filled with goods. Bulk lines-such- as sugar and rice are made up -in packages of three or four pounds; but eheese, butter and bacon are not'usually 'stocked, while it is not considered advisable to' have such easily concealed items as tobacco, cigarettes and patent medicines lying about. It -will thus be seen that the full stocks-of a"general grocery store cannot be earned, and, as Mr Rimmer . pointed-out, complete service cannot ] be-Tendered by the cash-and-carry j traders' because they cannot rely on the- honesty of the people. He added that it seemed as though service in Australian shops was being "eliminated to. a very large extent. He believed that there were certain services that could be done away with, but there were fltariy others that were absolutely essential. One of the disadvantages of'the cash-and-carry system was that the customer sometimes had to put in a basket various articles that did not agree very well together, instead of having them wrapped in separate parcels. ' Such a feature as this was not conducive to big business. He was satisfied,' however, that the system was not'a popular-One, but'that, on the other hand, >the' regular service stores were'holding*'their-own. A firm which had'six\9tore» ; run purely on the cash-and-icatry principle a year ago, now-had-only- one" establishment, which Was Jai'.Pitt -Street.'. The' system had not bedn' developed to the same degree in Melbourne as in Sydney. .(ATTRACTIVE BUSINESSES.

Mr Rinim'er was struck with the efficiency and-scope of some of the larger-department-stores. Meyers's establishment, in Melbourne, occupying two big blocks, he thought to be the finest store in Australia. As far as the,, provision and grocery trade was concerned, the store with the best equipment - and service was undoubtedly the Civil Service, in Sydney. McIlraith's waß also a very fine emporiom. A business fun on American lines, and with great success, was Cole's, of Sydney, -which ' handled fancy goods,: 'groceries, and a cafeteria

where the patron chose" his dishes from an array- on -long-counter- and car-irie^tKern-'on-a tray f to- actable. There was more centralisation of business in Sydney than in Melbourne, but in regard to the latter city the suburbs held their own 'very well and there were few,grocers' stores in the heart of the city, these being found more ic the side' streets and the suburbs. He had not been able to discern any great advancement in the display of retail'groceries, either in Sydney or Melbourne;, but'there was no doubt ■■ that the premises of fancy goods dealers and stationers were eye-openers. HIRED AND FIRED.

Incidentally' Mr 'Rimmer ■ mentioned .the effect 6f the labour awards on the staffing' of shops. Contrary to the rule operating in New Zealand, Sydnej storekeepers could engage as many youths aS they liked. In the cash-and-carry ! store the manager was the only adult on the premises, a girl being employed to take the money and boys t.) replenish the stands. The conditions created by the Arbitration Courts ■were stimulating Bolshevism. The tendency was for an employer to discharge a youth as soon as he was entitled tp claim an adult--wage, and to replace him with a junior. Thus the ranks of the unemployed were being swelled. . The requirements of Australian \ business were Exacting, and to hold a job an employee had to prove himself to be a worker out of the ordinary.

THE TALKING PICTURES. -In theatrical and picture enterprises; the Australian cities are making great strides. The Capitol, in Sydney, was spoken Of by Mr Rimmer as a wonderful structure; it is massiveJ/ built, the-interior is finished on class-ical-lines, and' the appointments have been so designed as to ensure silence, as talking pictures are shown there. Tho s footsteps of, persons entering the theatre'are inaudible, the chairs give forth no sound when sat upon. Looking'upwards, the visitor sees the moon, stars, and 'passing clouds—or, more correctly, he thinks he does, for he is viewing an illusion, the effect of which is heighteiied by currents of air wafted over him. After witnessing the "talkies," as they are feebly termed, Mr ; (Rimmer is of opinion that they will eventuUy displace the silent pier tur'es, and that in doing so they will give/ 1 an impetus to -British film art> i owing-to the ilnhate purity of the Eng- j lish- language, arid will probably bring the-plays of Shakespeare right home to multitude. In the course of 'this development it is to be expected that-the American Slang which has become all too familiar will lose its influence;! because of "a growing interest among the public in real 1 dramatic elo-| querice, with resultant benefit to tin common tongue. In the meantime the 5 cult of the'Stars and Stripes is very noticeable in Australian cinema halls,* Americanism continually. being iin-; pressed on the spectator through the • media of pictures, titles arid "music. The boom in the'movies shows no sign of diminution in Sydney. Up to the ! time spoken of by Mr Rimmer the Capitol management had never offered seats except through booking, and the theatre was filled'by that means. TIMBER WORKERS' STRIKE. The strike in the timber industry, which is still unsettled; commenced in Adelaide two days before Mr Rimmer left Melbourne, and it rapidly spread to Victoria and New South Wales. He considered that it would probably be ended only by many of the men breaking away from the Union and returning to work as free labourers. I6OME COMMERCIAL DEPRESSION

, Trade conditions in Sydney did not • appear to Mr Rimmer to be as good jas they are in New-Zealand, and when {he came in contact with business peojple he' heard a considerable huriiber of complaints as to dullness prevailing. At the same time building was •going on apace in Sydney. Many jstructures, and substantial ones among Hhem, weie* being pulled down to make, way for greater buildings. In January permits representing three rmllion& sterling were granted in Sydney for

, SYDNEY'S TOUCHERS. Hand in hand with all the pride tfnd glory of the Mother City, therr ever goes the tattered spectre of the li down-and-out." Like all the Babylons of earth it has its army of beggars, and if the average citizen's attitude towards them appears to the visitor from a more fertile land as something callous, he has only to live for a little while in that mill of humanity to understand it, for it is a cogent example of the familiarity that breeds contempt. Some of the importunate are the genuinely distressed, while others are living on the game, and the passer-by cannot distinguish between Hbem. The trouble has grown more acute with the passing of the years, and Mr Bimmer .had the same experience as other travellers, in that it wad impossible to proceed very far along the streets of the city without being accosted, While to stand still was out of the question. In Melbourne the position was quite different, cadgers being few and far between. NEGLECTED COUNTRY DISTRICTS While Mr Rimmer thinks of New South Wales as a beautiful country in many ways, he has not failed to notice the many disadvantages suffered by dwellers in country towns, few of which are equipped with the up-to-date public services to be found in settlements of co?.responding size in this Dominion. Life in the Australian back-blocks has indeed few attraction.-! beyond those which Nature herself can provide,'and. these are in many cases bestowed with a sparing hand on account of the climatic conditions. The suggestion, however, is left in the visitor's mind that the country districts of the State are doomed to comparative neglect so long as city members constitute the controlling force in Parliament.