SOME TRADE REVELATIONS

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 92, 21 April 1915, Page 6

SOME TRADE REVELATIONS

Pkk Pbess Association. Auckland, April 21. In a case at the Magistrates Court involving a dispute in respect to certain building contracts, it was stated that plumbers charged from fifty to seventy per cent, upon material and that builders got ten per cent, on material. Mr Kettle, S.M.: “Do I understand that when a plumber is doing a £lO job for which the material costs £3, ho is entitled to charge seventy per cent, upon that £3?” Witness: “From fifty per cent, upwards. There is a scale drawn up by the Master Plumbers Association of percentages providing for a range from 50 and 70 per cent. A .journeyman plumber charges Is 7d an hour, but the Master Plumber charges for his services 2s Gd an hour. While workmen get 12s 8d per day, people pay bis employer 205.” Mr Hall Skelton: “No wonder plumbers’ bills are notorious.” The .Magistrate said these percentages were evidently a custom of the trades. He was not expressing any opinion upon tbe matter as far as the present case was concerned, but it was perhaps a matter for tbe Chamber of Commerce, or it might .come under the Secret Commissions Act. He was of opinion that the contractor should disclose in bis account what be actually paid for goods, as well as what he charged, otherwise the proprietor had the right to assume that he was being charged the actual prices paid.