MADE IN NEW ZEALAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 70, 23 March 1915, Page 7

MADE IN NEW ZEALAND.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—Next to tilie war there m no question of mare vital importance to the Dominion at the present time than that profitable emjdoynwnt wlioiild be found for ail the people. In your issue of Saturday last some exception was taken to the statements made by Mr. J. A. Krostick, of Ctrnstchurdh, that prejudice existed aga'.Tct good» made in the Dominion, ajid that DhcTe was a tendency to prefer English and Ameirican-nwide goods. The information supplied tw your representative -was, in the mam. misleading and indeed incorrect. Ev*tt word' Mr. Frcetick eaid on this subject was, unfortunately, only too true; (he was not talking about New Zealand made goade of many yearn ago, but of those of to-day. T<be early effort? of the pionecre of our industries might have been, ac the writer describes, laughable, but are now -no more co than were h'» own finst attempts to wadk alone. It i<s perfectly true that tbe ftret attempte at ' manufacirrang trare but feeble, but it V* refreshing to read that oven your critic admits llha-t to-day tihe Tvf-w Zeafa'nd-madc hoot is ac good ac the imported; it may he also true, indeed, it is 'true that the »hop-keepar6 ettrould not have the eliglrteßt hesitxtkm in pushing New Zealand-made footwear, but 9iow can they par»h what Wify do not ecock? Take Queen Street for example; prove it for yourself, Mr. Editor, and you w'M have no difficulty m discovering that 75 to 85 per centum of all the boots ami ebocß in those shops ore imported, many have practically no New Zealand-nude boote to ebow. Hhe distributers may buy what they fit, and co also may the public. What we want is determined amd pemetent denneids for New ZeaJand goods by "a •.'■oval and eniftiueiaßtic public.

i There is another method of proving Mt. Fnoetick's statements, which you, eir, can establish {or youreelf. Examine the impart figures of boots and nffioes of a few yeare back when, ws yonr critic says, tbe New Zealomd productions .were laugOiiaWe. Tihe total imports then fell below £120,000, whereae to-day, Maroh 3\, \9\4, Tcturte. tfoe importe were somewhonp near £350,000.

; Whose fault is tins fe it net iihe manutaturfffi , faith,? beoarae your correspondent says there in now' no to disguis* , the ma.rk*>. the goods being equal to the imported. It » not t*K> fault of 'tone |w>op]p, beuauee, he ears, bhat exoppt with a few "extremely firaricky peopte" prejudice doee not exist. Tihen, sir, may I ask who is responeibW for the increaeed imports? There '.t, oo one Wt except the retailers who stand condemned by their own arguments.—l &m, *c,