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Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 2668, 23 July 1891, Page 2

We take the following ostvacts from the letter of an Auckland master printer, which, appears in tlie Juno number of Typo :—" Matters in connection with the printing trade are not improving in the city. I veritably believe that in none of the other large centres in the colony hus there been such competition in trade as in Auckland; here everything in the retail line is cut up to such an oxtnnt tli.it very small margins for profit are left for' the tradespeople. Fn the tariff which was adopted at the time Ihe Master Printers' Association was established, large reductions were, in the majority of instances, made off the Dunedin prices, in some cases as much as 'J.") per cent.; unci the few ([notations which follow will show how the

Auckliind chsirg-s in t'oiv.e now .-nm> kiiv with the southern city :-— i>so r>oo 1000 11-iniii-iIU Svn Irr. Bv-> ■Uμ 8--> -Ito s. (I. ». d. h. (I. «. (I. s.«!. s.d. Vnrlili.n-I 7 0 S 0 SO !)l> 10 012 (I Dune-iin 10 0 V.i 0 II li W0 H! I". 20 0 100 .'>oo (.'ire.ilars, single Sv-> fo Bvo -|lo (..nn pau'«) h. d. s it. ». d. s. d. Auckland ... S 0 1S 0 110 Hi li Diniedin 11 l> 17 I! Hi 0 2.'> 0 Thciv is rvon a. greater discrepancy bet we. mi prices for i-iirds, which in Anrkl:indii.re absurdly low; mid other evcry-diiy lines of work are about in the sime pro])ortiou to those quoted. What do people w.uit if the Auckland charges are too high '' There is little enough profit, out of work as it is. If the institution falls through the journeymen must suffer, and it will then be only meet that they should know ivho is the real cause of it." Such institutions ns the Muster Printers' Association are established with the object of doing away with

the evils of' 3ut-throat competition. Cutting prices have been the curse of all trades in Auckland, but more

ospecially of tho iiiinting business. When the prico chiirgcd for work loiivos but a narrow margin, of profit, if any at all, the masters are forced to pay wages on a corresponding scale, mid consequently the unfortunate journeymen have to suiter us well as their masters. The advantages dorived by customers in getting work done at a ruinous price to those executing tho same is very questionable, and, it is some consolation to think, cuts both ways. By the reduction of wages the spending power of employees is curtailed, and it is the tradesmen who feel the effects of this most acutely. In Auckland, where the system of "cutting" is notorious in nearly all branches of trade, the rate of wages, as a general rule, is below that paid in other parts of the colony where_ a healthier system of business is carried on.