A CHEAPER CHRISTMAS.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 October 1922, Page 4

A CHEAPER CHRISTMAS.

ALL-ROUND DROP IN PRICES. Cheaper Christmas commodities is a slogan upon which it seems safe for the housewife to work during the coming festive season. In fact, the opinion was expressed by a New Plymouth grocer to a Daily News reporter, yesterday, that the leading Christmas lines would be cheaper this year by at least 10 per cent, as compared with last year, provided, of course, prices are not adversely affected by the crisis in the Near East. Orders for seeded raisins, sultanas, peel and dried fruits generally have already been placed and the goods shipped, so prices can be fairly accurately forecasted. Even the exchange rate can make at most only a slight difference in price. The fall in the price of sugar, which enters into the manufacture of confectionery, jellies, sauces, biscuits,etc., will tend to make those lines also cheaper. The suspension of the Smyrna fig market would, it was considered, not affect the price of that commodity, as dried figs could always be secured at a reasonable price from America. “And what about the Christmas ham? It is rumored that one large manufacturing concern in New Zealand has suspended its activities, while the reciprocal tariff with Australia, and the large inducements held out there by wholesalers for New Zealand hams, is going to affect the price to the New Zealand consumer to a large extent.” Our informant, answering this query, thought that the price of hams would show little variation during the next two or three months, and that the present average price of Is a lb for hams would be ruling at Christmas-time, as most retailers had already booked their orders satisfactorily. “Taken all round,” he concluded, “everything points to prices being decidedly in the consumers’ favor this Christmas.”