WOMEN'S PURCHASES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 227, 25 September 1930, Page 11

WOMEN'S PURCHASES.

NEW ZEALAND NEGLECTED.

"PANDERING TO SNOBBERY." MISS MELVILLE'S STRIKING PROTEST. "Wβ have an extraordinary inferiority complex regarding our own goods," said Miss Ellen Melville, during a lecture given before the Manufacturers' Association at the Hall of Industries last evening. She declared that New Zealanders were ashamed of their own goods, and business people were afraid to mark their goods "New Zealand-made" because they thought it would ruin their business. Women would not buy Dominionmade hats and clothing, said Miss Melville, and yet in Wellington the other day she had seen some of the most beautiful,dresses that anyone could ever wear, and they had been made in New Zealand. The material was bought in bulk and the dresses were made up by New Zealand girls, instead'of by French, German, or Czecho-Slovakian girls. She was told that New Zealand women would hot buy those dresses. If that was not carrying inferiority complex to the imbecility complex she did not know what was. It was pandering to the snobbery of fashionable women who had more money than sense. She had no doubt that thousands of spring hat* in Queen Street shop windows were made in New Zealand, although the firms did not advertise the fact. People were told that Paris was the centre of the fashion world and tried to delude themselves that they followed Paris fashions, and that the smart women of New Zealand wore Paris gowns. Smart women did nothing of the sort. While they might look to Paris for inspiration, they rarely copied slavishly, but adopted models to suit their own national type.

Stockings and Jams. There were thousands of pairs of artificial silk and woollen stockings made in New Zealand, but one never eaw anything indicating their "pedigree." Yet one could get better value for her money in New Zealand-made stockings than in any others. New Zealand-made pure silk stockings could be purchased for 8/11, and they were the hardest wearing stocking* she knew of. Miss Melville went on ,to speak about the preference of housewives for jams from other countries. A woman once told her that the reason she bought South African jams was that jams made in New Zealand contained preservatives. The only preservative in New Zealand - jams was Al sugar from Chelsea. She recently bought a toothbrush marked "British made," and after pressing the shopkeeper for the name of the country where the article was manufactured, he admitted that it was New Zealand, and actually !the brush was made in Auckland. They were not afraid to mark the country of origin on Japanese toothbrushes. Purchases From Abroad. For overseas purchases of apparel and ready-made clothing New Zealand in 1928 paid £80,000 to the United States, £25,000 to Japan, £128,556 to Germany, £20,000 !to Belgium, £11,600 to Czecho-Slovakia, and £114,700 to France. Then the question was asked why New Zealand girls were out of work. "We axe making foreign countries rich at our expense," concluded Miss Melville. "Are we not hypocrites, running round and asking why we have so much unemployment?"