"Hmmmm
THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1950
I don't know
WALL PAGEF
Don't you
bove anything a little cheaper that looks more
expansiva?"
London Exponan Service.
FOR
Crisis
THE BUSINESSMAN
Accentuates
7
The
Raw Material Shortage
(OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT).
London, Dec. 1,
If the new Korean crisis has not made raw material short- ages any worse than they were it has certainly accentuated them. The critical situation resulting from the Chinese counter-
ON HIRE offensive has thrown the ball back to those governments which
SPOTLIGHT ON HIRE PURCHASE
From Robert Shearer, Rome.
The
In Italy, the hire- A popular "baby" car priced purchase system has become at £550 cash down, costs £620
a national spread over two years. something of
best Hire-purchase bargains institution. All classes use are houses. Four out of five it to buy anything from are paid for by mortgage clothes and gramophones to spread over 20 years and cost- -jewellery, furs and cars. In ing five percent.
year
month.
interest સ
hoped that the commodity shortages could be solved without re- sorting to wartime measures of control.
This is obviously not the time for procrastina-plentiful. That unfortunately
is not the case,
tion and governments must now take the very The Organisation for Euro- action they were anxious to avoid.
pean Economic Co-operation which met this week-end to dig
the commodity Lamine studiod the list of materials
CUES
After several weeks! evasion the British Govern- ment is now definitely thinking along these lines. The Ministry of Supply has stated that consideration which are in short supply. This is being given to the introduction next year of an allocation scheme for zinc.. This scheme may be ex- tended to include all non-ferrous metals.
Mr Wilson also said he was "going into the question of cot- ton waste, cotton yarn and rayon materials."
some circles it is consider- On a similar basis a family
After this announcement was, supplies. He hoped to make a ed almost a breach of good of four can buy complete medi-
fuller statement later. taste not to have a "never-cal and surgical care for 35s a made the President of the Board of Trade, Mr Harold Wilson, never" account with your
In bad times, finance and told a House of Commons that tailor.
mortgage companies foreclose was already reeling under the on defaulting purchasers who effect of the sudden serious turn have over-reached
themselves. of events in Korea that if Then the market is flooded
shortages of materials for which with second-hand goods from the Board is responsible develop, fur coats to farms.
special allocation arrangements will be introduced as necessary in order to see that priority users have first call on available
The reason for its populari ty is simply that, as far as the is concerned, average Italian wages are too low for him to buy what he wants any other way. And if instalments are not paid regularly the dealer has the right to take back the goods.
This he usually does at the first signs of default.
Because this is so far reach- ing, there are a number of rackets in Italy's hire purchase business. One concerns the buying of apartment houses. A conscientious buyer may quite easily discover after five. years or so that because of a "technicality" he has merely been paying rent when he thought he was nearing owner- ship.
CASH DOWN rare From Rodney Campbell,
New York.
Medical treatment comes in- to the picture of hire pur- chase in America, where its popularity can be summed up in the fact that Americans think nothing of paying a £150 doctor's bill with a "first stalment" of 7s 2d.
in-
Tes
Hire-purchase is partly ponsible for the amazingly high living standards of the average *American workman. Most labourers and factory "hands" have their own cars, To avoid this risk house buy-even if they have been bought ing in Italy is handled almost by £10-a- month instalments. exclusively by family lawyers. From Maine to California
FROM CRADLE
From Patrick Nicholson,
Онаша,
such things as dish washers, television sets, radios and houses are all bought by hire purchase. Many an ex-Service-
moved into without paying
a
new
any-
Thanks to hire purchase the man has average Canadian, spending to-house morrow's earnings today, en-thing down but merely signing joys luxuries which he could a hire purchase agreement.
Only rarely never otherwise afford.
is cash-down From his cradle (probably a payment made and housewives hire-purchase one) he spends have become so accustomed to his life buying most of his im- the "never-never" idea that portant goods-even his wed they would not know how to ding ring-by instalments. budget for immediate capital
one-sons.
Alcohol and perishable foods payments. Public confidence in are about the only things he the country's gigantic hire pur- cannot get by instalments. Even chase system is carried even the three-month supply of food further by the leniency of cottage sellers who will almost always he stocks his summer with has almost certainly been excuse payments which are bought on the "never-never.” delayed because of good rea-
Hire-purchase covers tenth of all buying. Interest Americans, therefore, do not rates range from 20 percent, a use the hire purchase system year on refrigerators and fur- because prices are high niture, to 17 percent. on rather because the system smaller, more unusual items, so commonplace and because bought by mall order.
they know they can trust it. Douglas MacArthur
BACKGROUNDS:
1. 1945, almost
but
is
No. 23
■STANDARD BRIDGEN By M. Harrison-Gray
**49
Dealer: North.
6004 2
KHAS
Love all
7 3
N.
J 8 7 3
Q98 A
Q 10 7
B.
4004
◆ A 64
0950
A 10 7 2
♦ K J G
J 10 2 South gained deserved Buccess
9 8 0 5
៩៩
on
un- this
hand from Rubber Bridge. He opened One Heart after two passes, West bid One Spade (a double is better), North Three Hearts and South Four Hearts, which West doubled. North's jump raise was not forcing and South should have passed with his many potential losers,
West led AK to South's A. East starting a peter with 9. South sensed the impending ruff but could only hope that East had a doubleton trump. A was followed by 2 to West's
to
K. East playing 3 and ❤ in that order. As he had falled to play high-low indicate three trumps and a desire to ruff. West shted off a Spade continua- tion. He made an it- Judged shift to ⚫ and South was home.
London Express Service
Apart from certain raw materials-like cotton, sulphur, wood-pulp and base metals of which shortages had developed before the Korean war began, there is a long list of commodi- tics which are now in short supply as a direct result of the
war,
list includes besides the three mentioned above the following raw materials:, coal, coke, scrap, iron ore, manganèse, copper, zine, aluminium, textile fibres, sulphur, timber, pulp, cement, raw hides and skins.
This list gives some idea of the immensity of the problem to be faced. But whatever means of mitigating it are proposed by. OEFC one thing is quite clear: it cannot be solved by Western Europe alone.
The introduction of allocation schemes along the lines of those adminstered by the wartimo Combined Supply Boards 19 the solution which appears to be most favoured by some of the members of OEEC, notably In certain commodities there France. But the obstacles to bo would actually be a surplus if surmounted before those conditions wero normal. But schemes could come into opera- war fears have turned thesotion are so vast that there can potential surpluses into short- ages, Scrambles have developed for what supplies remain after stock-piling and defence IP- quirements have been met, with the result that prices have been pushed through the roof
INCREASING CONCERN
Ju the case of tin and rubber. this scramble has been ac- centuated by the fear of war areas spreading to producing and
be no hope for a solution of this kind unless there is completo co-operation between consumers and producers, some of whom are outside Europe.
AMERICAN POSITION
Moreover, allocation schemes cannot be devised until Ameri- can co-operation is secured. The American position is still not known but it may become clearer when talks between the OEEC delegation and the United States Government begin in Washington soon.
:
participation
in
the cutting of Supplies altogether. This is the reason why the price of rubber advanced by Od a pound-at American fantastic increase for one day-allocation schemes would go a and tin by £80 a ton when the long way towards mitigating news of the Chinese counter-
some of the shortages but others offensive was received in London. | would remain. To allocate raw materials like wool, rubber and Western European countries, tin on a system of international which are now trying to build up priorities would require the end-
ing of
respectivo fres markets. Producers of theso are strongly op- raw materials posed to anything which would interfere with their free market- ing arrangements, and nothing likely to short of war seems budge them.
their defences while endeavour- ing not to upset their already strained economies too much, are becoming increasingly con- cerned about these raw material shortages. So much has been heard about tin, rubber and wool that the impression might have been gained that the other commodities
reasonably
что
By MELVIN K. WHITELEATHER & NORMAN MYERS
military oc-
LESKER SYNDICATS
. September
North Korean Heas, uigen on auen began the Eleven Japanese envoys nied
gave "Emperor" four years after Pearl Harbour, to an ordinary desk and General cupation of Japan, with the man by Russia, the historic surrender was
as Supreme Allied who had led them to victory re- MacArthur still another oppor- MacArthur,
maining the top official of the tunity to serve his country and signed in Tokyo Bay on a deck of the big battleship Missouri. Commander, signed on behalf Allied organisation. MacArthur the cause of freedom. When the The Pacific war was over; the of the victors. Behind him stood was to become more powerful communists attacked their South
Jun brothers Inst world war was over. Their work General Wainwright with than the Emperor whom he re- Korean well done, Allied officers lined lump in his throat, and to him ceived in audience dressed in MacArthur was named the first Commander.in up on an open deck to watch MacArthur gave the first of the US Army sun tans with his United Nations
told to crush the the signing of this historie six pens he used on the surron shirt collar flopping open and history, and
der document.
Red Invaders. documentari
'no' tie.
their
Possible action by the OEEC seems to be limited to those commodities which are produced in Western Europe. They could do this in various ways. They could limit consumption to essential users, take steps to increase the, production of raw materials in short supply; develop new synthetic materials and increase the output of exist- ing substitutes.
Whatever means of solving the problem are decided on- and they may include stringent. to make it monetary control impossible for non-essential users to Anânce large stock of not naw materials-they will be eagy
without to impose reverting to wartime economy.
The common danger arising from the events of the past few · days should, however, serve to reconcile those conflicting in- berosta Between zation and of producer and con- nation,
Hitherto which have made any agreement · seêm-im-.. DONABLE.
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