“HERE TO STAY”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 474, 2 October 1928, Page 12

“HERE TO STAY”

INSTALMENT SYSTEM PRAISED BY ROTARIAN Contending that the instalment system had made good and was sound and satisfactory, Mr. H. T Thomas addressed the Rotary Club yesterday on "The Practical Sid. of Instalment Selling.” From living confined to such .1 rtiel.. as motor-cars and pianos the *v s t~? had spread through other trades ing a tremendous popularity with th buyers. There was no doubt that it had made good in tlie face of a bitter opposition and was now a sound and satisfactory arrangement from the con to’sfuy. P ° int 0t VU " U h3d CO ®e . Instalment selling was now an integral part of the commercial lif r and having been condemned on all sides. it was now' recognised by economists as thoroughly sound J The evolution of the system had taken place in the last few years and it had not yet shown any ' inherent weaknesses which were not equally liable to occurr in other forms of credit. Ihe charges raised against it were usually the fault of the trader or the consumer, and tlie old credit account system had many more serious deficiencies. CHARGE OF EXTRAVAGANCE Arguments were raised against Uio system that it encouraged the use of luxuries and extravagant buying and It was stated that the country ,vn, oassing through a period of extra\ aganco due to the instalment svs teb. The driving force in trade was salesmanship and this was tho excitr'ment to extravagance, not the in«tal nient system. It had also been contended that It was impossible to get at the actual cost of the credit given to the consumer, but it was really a fair system the cost being born by the users. It was an incentive to thrift if the instalments were kept within limits and made for an orderly budgeting of income and expenditure each week People had told him that they could never save before they had adopted the instalment system. The time-payment trader was equally as anxious to keep the good-will of his customers so that the public must he pleased. The success of the system in individual cases would depend on the knowledge and ability of those conducting the service.