NOT HAND MADE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 215, 11 September 1925, Page 8

NOT HAND MADE.

.m , ■ „ | AUCKLAND TAILOR FINED. SUIT WRONGLY DESCRIBED. PUBLIC MUST BE PROTECTED. A fine of £5 1/ was imposed at the ■ Police Court this morning by Mr. J. W. Poynton, S.M., in the case in which a Karangahape Road tailor was charged i with selling as hand made a garment that ' i was not wholly made by hand. The defendant was Andrew Worthington, and the : informant was the inspector of factories ! (Mr. Joseph Hollows). The case was j heard several days ago. In giving judg- ! ment the magistrate said: "Defendant j advertised as the British Woollen Comjpany, tailors. 'Yes, all our £7 7/ suits are hand made . . . Call to-morrow and ' leave your instructions for a new suit. i Have it hand made.' The whole advert- | isement is obviously to make the reader I believe the offer was of a hand-made suit. | From the evidence it would appear that i there were two meanings to 'hand made,' , one understood by the public which is i that it hand sewn throughout, and .another by tailors that certain portions only arc hand sewn, the remainder being I sewn by machine. A suit was ordered by •j an inspector of factories, who stipulated j that it must be hand made. There is a j conflict of evidence as to whether the inspeator insisted upon it being handmade or tailor-made, but I must find that it was to be hand made. It was found after making that the suit was not wholly hand sewn, but about GO per cent machine made. '•Defendant is charged with selling as hand-made a garment that was not wholly made by hand. It takes a much longer time to make a suit which is entirely hand sewn than one which is partly or wholly machine sewn. It was stated in evidence in this case that it takes a tailor 45 hours to make a suit entirely hand sewn, but a machine sewn one can be sewn in' 2J hours. This, of course, with the Arbitration Court award for wages, will make a great difference in the prices of the two. "The defences are: That the suit sold to the ' inspector substantially complies with the definition of a hand-sewn one, < and that the regulations under the ! Board of Trade Act, on which the prosecution is based, are ultra vires. An . advertisement either in a window or in a newspaper is not intended for experts |in a trade, but for the public. Whatever I the meaning of words are as understood |by tailors or other tradesmen amongst themselves, it is the public that must be considered when it is appealed to to buy a certain class of goods. Amongst tea dealers it may be well known that a ; certain brand of tea is substantially of . the same quality and may even be grown i on the same estate as that sold under . another name, but it would be no answer i to a claim for failure to deliver a quan- . i tity of one brand that another equally ii as good was tendi/red. It may be even • ! better, but the particular kind or brand . bargained for must be supplied, no matter how much the dealers know about it. "The unsophisticated public believes • that hand-made suits are made by hand, and if they are advertised as handmade, hand-made suits must be supplied if customers request them. It is j easy to see what a great and unfair advantage a tailor, who took in the public by advertising his 60 per cent ' j machine-made goods as hand-made, would have over others who did not, but actually did supply such goods. That is what the Board of Trade Act ,: was intended to prevent. The Regulaj tion No. 3 governing this prosecution j reads: 'Every person commits an offence who sells or agrees or offers to sell as hand-made or hand-tailored, any garment that is not wholly made by .and and otherwise made in accordance with the requirements of these regulations respecting tailor-made garments.' i 'Tailor-made' differs from hand-made as i shown by the definition in Regulation 7. i but. 'hand-tailored' is synonymous with j hand-made. Any difficulty found in j reading the words in the regulation after the words 'made by hand' is solved ij by examining the schedule. It will be (• seen that other work besides sewing has to be done, as 'pressing' and 'shrinking.' The schedule relates to tailor-made garments, not 'hand-sewn' or 'handtailored.' The regualtion is consistent with the schedule. | "It was urged in defence that hand- ; sewn garments are now practically unI known. Only one instance was given of ; a customer in Auckland getting them. But it was proved that such sewing is str<ftiger than machine sewing, and that is why a minimum amount of it is , , required in 'tailor-made' garments at I places where the strain is great and j strength is needed. It is common knowledge also that many think, perhaps erroneously, that a hand-sewn garment fits better than a machined one. "I am of opinion that the regulations are not ultra vires. They, or similar j provisions, arc necessary for the protection of the public, and also to prevent unfair competition. The penalty will not be heavy, as the regulations have not been long in force. Defendant will be fined £5, with costs." Mr. Paterson appeared for the prosecution, and Mr. Anderson for the defendant.' At the request of Mr. Anderson the magistrate made the fine £5 1/, in order that an appeal might be lodged.