PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 229, 27 September 1930, Page 8

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.

Why New Zealanders prefer imported articles to those made in their own country is a mystery. Miss Melville, in an address given to the Manufacturers' Association recently, gave some striking instances of the lack of pride felt by New Zealanders in goods produced by themselves. This is the more remarkable because excessive modesty in regard to our own achievements in other walks of life has never been regarded as an outstanding characteristic of our Dominion. Yet we are told that women would not buy a hat if they thought it was locally .made, and that they carry the same prejudice into all matters, of apparel from the crown of the head to- the sole of the foot. Why? Nobody knows;. It is not due to any inferiority in the local article, because if a woman can be persuaded that a dress, or hat, or a pair of shoes comes from- foreign parts she will cheerfully wear these adornments even though in reality they come from a local source. Perhaps women buy foreign goods because they are dearer, just as men buy them because they think they pre cheaper. If so, this is curious when we consider a woman's fondness for bargain sales. A great deal of the extra dearness of foreign goods is due to the high tariff rather than to any superiority either in the workmanship or the texture. A dress described as the latest Paris creation has perhaps never seen Paris at all, but is locally made after the fashion of some Parisian design, yet the very name of Paris seems to exercise a fascination for the female mind, perhaps because the original Paris was credited with -being an unrivalled judge of female beauty. But New Zealand women look better in dresses made in their own land, because what suits the petite Frenchwoman do«s not often suit the more athletic figure of our own girls. Some idea of the money that goes out of the country for foreign apparel may be gleaned from the fact that in 1928 we spent £4,600,000 on importations and only £1,500,000 on our own productions in this line. Lately an effort has been made to bring the value of New Zealand goods more prominently before the public, and slowly this effort is' beginning to bear fruit. Especially in the boot trade there has been a marked increase in the demand for the local article. Compared with last year about 2000 more persons are engaged in secondary industries, and the value of products has risen by close on five and a half million pounds. The numbers now engaged exceed 83,000 and they earn wages of over £17,000,000. If for prejudice against locally-made goods we could substitute a real pride in our national productions we should do much to provide well-paid employment for many who are now out of work. —W.M.