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Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 66, 19 March 1925, Page 9

• __________ > A fight has been made for shoddy be- ■ fore the New South Wales Tariff Board by importers, who say tliat they must have a cheaper material than Australian ' tweed for buyers who simply will have the cheap stuff. According to one witness, representing a big retail firm, a suit of Australian wool can be sold as low as 59/0, while imported shoddy can \ 1 be provided at 53/0; and he added that ; although the Australian goods would . show a better appearance after six j months' wear, there was a class of cusl ' tomers who insisted upon having the t lower-priced article. Whether they k would so insist if they were fully in- , formed as to the origin of the goods , floes not appear. This witness also 3aiil j that 82 per cent of his firm's sales were j locally-made thinjrs, but in view of Sir t William Vicar's statement that so many r of the local looms are idle, it is douht--1 ful whether this applies to tweeds.