PROTEST HEARD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 109, 11 May 1933, Page 8

PROTEST HEARD.

BOOT SUPPLY POLICY.

RETAILERS' VIEWPOINT.

SPECIAL DISCOUNT OFFERED.

A representative deputation of boot retailers waited on Mr. W. Bromley, a member of the Unemployment Board, this afternoon to protest against the board's policy in regard to the supply of boots to relief workers. The spokesmen said that their trade had suffered more than any other. The suggestion was made tho relief workers should be supplied with vouchers for extra work and be allowed to purchase their boots at the retail shops, where they would receive a discount of approximately 10 per cent on even the present "cut" prices. The retailere were prepared to do this in order to maintain freedom of trade, although many of the lines they sold did not represent a profit of 10 per cent. Til reply to questions, members of the deputation said they still did s^ me business with relief workers and their families, but the board's policy would prevent further business. Mr. Bromley's E'eply. In reply, Mr. Bromley said the deputation had stated the board's case and strengthened its hands. The relief worker could not afford to buy boots for himself and his family. _ "These boots we propose to sell are going into a market that does not exist at the present time," he said. Boots sold in the shops were of a quality commensurate with the price obtained, but under the board's scheme the worker was to be given the best quality boot required for the work he had to undertake. In conclusion, Mr. Bromley said that if the shopkeepers could co-operate with the board by showing how the workers could be supplied and the footwear distributed, in order that the best could be given tl e men at a small cofit, the board would be glad to reconsider the question. He had discussed the problem in other centres and prominent retailers had told him that the shops could not handle the position. "It is a genuine attempt we are making to give the workers who are in sore need some help," he added. "We have all got to make sacrifices and do things that would not be attempted in ordinary times." There would bo all kinds of safeguards in respect to exploitation.