BOOT AND SHOE INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 18, 21 July 1934, Page 8

BOOT AND SHOE INDUSTRY

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —I have read with interest Mr. Poison's remarks on. the tarifi report, published in the "Evening Post" on tho 19th instant. One remark in particular deserves consideration, especially as it points to the long-looked-for Utopia. I refer to the statement regarding the boot and shoe industry, whose employees number 237(5. The remark in question is as follows: "If tho whole of the employees were pensioned off at full rates of wages, the consumers of New - Zealand would be saving £355,000." Now if, as Mr. Poison says, we can save this large amount by applying his system to one section of our secondary industries, why not apply it to the lot, and as there are 66,700 employees in our secondary industries, under the same system, the saving to the country would be approximately £9,940,000. We must not. lose sight of the fact that Mr. Poison's scheme provides for the pensioning off, at full pay, for the employees in those industries displaced. In fact, the scheme is in every way desirable, but at the ■ same time ridiculous, as there is one fly in the ointment—where is. the money to come from to provide the above-mentioned pensions? And, in closing, Mr. Polson's statement regarding the shoe industry is very misleading, as while statistics show 81 registered shoe factories in New Zealand, there are, in fact only 14 factories with an average of 100 workers apiece, and 11 smaller factories averaging 32 workers each. The larger portion of the remainder are engaged mostly on repair and bespoke work.—l am, etc., ■" W.L.L.