BUSINESS BOOMING

Southland Times, Issue 18860, 28 June 1920, Page 5

BUSINESS BOOMING

A PROSPEROUS YEAR. CHRISTCHURCH TRADERS’ EXPERIENCE. (Special to the Times.) CHRISTCHURCH, June 25. At the end of the most prosperous year many cf them have ever experiencd, Christchurch firms ar beginning to balance up to see how things stand. The results in some cases are remarkable. Rough estimates clearly show that the volume of trade handled will top anything previously recorded. In spite of high prices the demami in every line has steadily risen month by month, and further than that, tho growth has stood searching and intricate tests. Bad debts are scarce, and prompt settlement seems to be the rule. “We have never handld so much money for years,” said the manager of a large business house to a Star reporter. “Our turnover this year will he a record. People are getting better prices for (heir goods and for (hir labour, and the result is improved trade all round. Perhaps the land transactions of the last twelve months have something to do with it. I expect a few speculators will burn their lingers sooner or later, but that won’t mean any great tightening up. There’s nothing to frighten me in our book debts. Our clients big and small pay up promptly when the bills go out. There is less grumbling and less delay than before the war. Bad marks are fairly scarce too.” An interesting sidelight on the present situatior was afforded by the manager of a retail boot shop, who produced books showing that during the last three years there has hern an increasing tendency to pay cash. In 1014, he said, three-quarters of the sales made went through the hooks. In 1915-10 the beginning of a change was distinctly evident. In 1917-18 the sales under the two headings cash and account were level. In 1918-19 there was an excess of cash sales, and this year the excess would be more pronounced. Now’ about 75 per cent of the business was cash, and yet there had never been any suggestions of a hint to customers that “money on the nail” was acceptable.