The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25. THE PRICE ORGY SUBSIDING.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3637, 25 November 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25. THE PRICE ORGY SUBSIDING.

With which is incorporated "The Taihape Post and Waiinarino News "

It is claimed that the prices of articles which constitute the cnief factor in the cost-of-living trouble are beoniingj lower. An expert has been gathering information about markets within the Dominion, and his report seems to indicate that cost-of-living statistics will show considerable variations in the immediate future. There is little doubt about*prices having- passed the zenith and now being on tfyp decline, making for a reasonable price horizon. Manufacturers whose goods fail to move off as readily as desired, and warehousemen who "have stuffed storerooms, are naturally nervous at the public's disinclination to continue paying war

j prices upwards of two years after | peace is" declared. Those most seriously overstocked are offering low-price inducements to the public in an effort to avoid being left with an overburdensome load when the price level-ling-down has to come. This patchy price-cutting is having the effect of lessening the demand on houses which have not been caught with inordinately heavy stocks, causing them to fall into the price line with those that are overstocked or else forfeit their trade. In this connection it is pleasing to notice that the reign-of indifference, and carelessness about maintaining a

I trading clientele is, rapidly disappear^ i iiig, and large firms are now taking some pains to rope in the business of old customers, and are reaching or*t into the trading unknown m search 'of new ones. The expert's report indicates that imported tweeds and worsteds are still ■ quoted at war prices, notwithstanding the fact that almost every English newspaper coming to | hand discloses that prices of those goods in- Britain have declined by upwards of twenty-five per cent., and in a few instances to a much further* ex- : tent, srom evidence given in profiteer-', ing prosecutions during the last few days it seems that the time has ar-' rived when a reorganisation and remodelling of trading systems has be-

come urgently necessary. Evidence indicates)'that men's suitings are made and sold by woollen mills at a price there is little, if any, room to find fault with.. It is when those suitings get into the possession of the rriiddle- - men that the source of industrial unrest and social upheaval is discovered. Men who buy from mills in thousands of pounds lots, turn their purchases over in a week or two, employing few hands, at astouudingiy high profits. The courts do not seem inclined to view such trading as anything but honest, and they 1 inflict no penalties worth mentioning, certainly none that will, act as a deterrent. In many shops the

prices of men's suits have been reduced by as much as forty shillings per suit.-. It is evident that such reductions could not come from .-material passing through middlemen's bands; they could, however, easily be made upon suits purchased from clothing factories owned and conducted by woollen milling companies, and it is probably on such suits that a drop of forty shillings per suit is recorded. Some city tailors are even making suits to measure at six pounds ten shillings, but the majority of tailors are still charging the high prices, and who can # feel any surprise when they learn through law court proceedings how the prices of

materials are disgustingly, and dangerously, maintained. It is as clear as day that if woollen mills would sell direct to tailors at the prices they sell to middlemen, the cost-of-living problem, so far as clothing goes, would be solved. The living question cannot bo affected much by the slump in hides, for it is in the impossibility to reduce boot prices that a price paradox comes in. While hide prices are down approximately* fifty per cent., the boots "made from them cannot reflect the deCrease, because increased wages demanded have actually increased the cost of boot production. When it is considered that hides have to be converted into leather by labour, then into boots by labour. i\ will be recognised what effect on boot prices recently increased wages can only have. Labour costs on leather and boots are

still rising, and yet there is a decline in prices of ordinary lines of boots, an indication that manufacturers are being satisfied Co take less profit with a view to stemming the increasing industrial unrest. It is stated, with every appearance of truth, that owing to the pressure of banks and consequent anxiety to unload high-priced stocks, many New Zealand firms have begun to cut ■priors; while consumers, feelinir sur? that prices are coming down, are content to wait. Products of the dairy farm haVe enormously increased, but in all other primary production the tendency is undoubtedly favouring the

consumer. Of course, it, is only in such world-wide food marketing convulsions as at present exist as a result of the war that snch a disparity in values of i the commodities New Zealand farmers produce can exist. Their very nature j prevents them from being of long dura- | tion. Then it is only in butter, cheese I and milk, that this Dominion's proI ducts present a serious menace to imi provenient in the cost of living'. Imj ported articles of every-day use as huLman food are noteworthily going down in price very considerably. Cornflour, sago and similar goods have fallen twenty per cent.; tea and cocoa are down and will continue the decline;' dried fruits of all kinds have the appearance of slumping; rice has dropped back considerably; dealers are quitl ting imported tinned fish, including salmon, at a loss; there is'a big drop in starch, and whatever increases are reported are only of a slight character, with the one exception of dairy farm products. Future indications are now very brightly reflecting world-wide improvement. Britain's decision to open up trading relationship with Russia %ill have an effect upon bread prices, furnishing feuch a supply that will cause factories to spring into action j in impoverished countries where, la- i bour is cheap. Not only wheat, buthuge shipments of Siberian butter wITT soon find its way to British markets; fairly rushed there so as to get as long a period of high prices as possible. It is quite safe to venture to predict that the days of outrageously high prices and high profits are numbered. With the products of Eussia coming upon the world's market, prices obtained must result in hugely augmented production h* r the Russian people, centring national attention upon a campaign of peace and plenty, alienating it from military schemes in pursuit of impossible Utopias/ Reviewing the .whole price situation, it appears that an economically defective industrial arrangement is now the only real deterrent to any in the cost-of-living problem in this Dominion.