Minutes of Evidence p.1401-1509 - Parliament of Victoria

1437
48631. How can you make ends then, if you sell at a loss ?-Because we have to put one six John A. Kitchenl
continudd~
months against another six months.
!lnd May 1883,
48632 .. Would not that apply if you take off a penny duty ?-No, because then we see no m·,()~''"'r•r.
but a permanent and a heavy loss.
48633. 'Vhat wages do you pay ?-Per man, we commence at 3Gs., I think. Of cmu·se, a great
many get higher wages than that.
48634. Do you pay by the week or by piece-work ?-Partly, not much by
I
think it is only moulding that is paid by
48635. Have your wages largely since you got the duty upon candles
48636. Are you paying more to the men than you did. befOTe; are wages higher
two
or three years they are higher, perhaps 10 cent. higher.
48637. Does that arise from the that you get a 2d. duty, or a scarcity oflabour ?-A scarcity
of labour.
48638. Do you really wish the Commission to believe that, in the e·vent of a recommendation being
made that the duty should be reduced by a penny a pound, the proportion of 300 hands that you
employ upon candle-making would be at once discharged ?-I am on my oath, and I cannot see even
with a halfpenny taken off the duty that we could possibly keep on that department, we wonld just have
to close it.
48639. W oulJ the hands now employed upon that particular branch not be absorbed in some other
direction in your manufacture ?-Most certainly not. We have our usual soap-hands. lwve 11othing
to do with the cnndles. If the candle department is closed the candle-hands would have to go, of course; and
it is not only the two or three htmdrcd that we employ at the factory, but some hundreds outside, all depend
upon it.
48640. Suppose this 2d. a pound were not upon the imported artiele at present, woulcl you tell me
the price of the imported candle without the duty ?-In the long run I do not think it would be any
cheaper.
48641. If that is the case, there is no need for any duty at all from the reasons I have
stated first that we have to sell our n.t a halfPenny under the imported. always have to do that,
because we have all the makers
Candles are constantly being put on board at a considerable
loss. We run the continental very close indeed. Two have already failed and they a~e selling
candles to Australian ports at a very low price.
48642. Those home makers must be a sort of philanthropists?-We have reduced the European
candle.
48643. Those home manufacturers who sell so cheap must be disposed to be kind to the colony?­
That I cannot say. I am not acquainted with them.
48644. Supposing candles come at this low price, who would benefit by it ?-If they come vtithout
a duty ?
48645. Yes ?-If they come without a duty at very low prices the public might benefit to some
extent.
4!:l646. The consumer, the miner, would benefit?-Yon are speaking of a special case if those
prices still continue, in my opinion they woulcl not continue.
48647. Then if they would not, wherein comes the competition, you need not be afraid of it ?-They
if we were closed, of course.
You about candles being ls. lcl. a pound some time ?-Some years ago.
48649. Have you ever seen them sold as high as 2s. 6d. a pound cannot recollect.
48650. I said it is a question of time, you know that was one of the times that I speak of
when the importers were getting such a very large profit as they would if the duty was taken off and
the trade was
upon the importers.
48651. do not believe that if there was a glut of this article at home they would not be very
glad to make a market for it here ?-I could not say.
48652. You do not want the Commission, either, to that the reduction from ls. ld. to the
present price was in consequence of the 2d. duty upon want the Commission to miderstaud that
we do not tl1ink the 2d. duty has enhanced the price of
the ten years.
48653. Suppose you put 3d. on it, would it enhance the ?-Yes.
48654. Then a penny would make all the difference in direction ?-Certainly. .
48655. I thought the higher the duty put on the lower the of the article. You clo export
some candles to Syclney ?-Not to any extent, only 2 cwt. or 3 cwt. in a year, just to oblige a soap
customer.
48656. You are not one of the men that send them to the adjoining colonies and sell at a less price
than the whole world and than they do here ?-None of the Melbourne manufacturers do that.
48657. You Citnnot answer for them ?-I go by the regular returns.
48658. The mining community is the largest consumer of this particular article, and the burden of
taxation upon that one item is very great, seeing the amount of duty paid last year. Have you ever
thought of the propriety of doing justice to that particular industry by increasing the value of gold, and
give them £4 10s. an ounce for their gold to .make up for what they pay for candles ?-No, I have not
considered it at all. ·
48659. By Mr.' Munro.-You say all the importers are against- you. Do not you sell any candles to
wholesale merchants ?-Yes.
48660. And how do I understand vou that all the are agffinst you. Would not it pay
merchants to deal with you ?-No. '
48661. They get equally as good an article and do not require to keep so large a stock that
is· where my point comes in ; they could not get the amount of profit from the colonial man that they can
with the imported, because they cnn often get a good profit in the case of short shipments.
48662. Supposing the importers dealt with would not require to have the same amount of
capital invested in candles, and they could be
a small profit, and at the end of the year
would do as well ordering a large quantity ?-One reason we have them against us is that they did