MEET ANY DEMAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 143, 18 June 1940, Page 3

MEET ANY DEMAND.

MILITARY CLOTHING. MANUFACTURERS PREPARED, SATISFACTORY CONDITIONS.

The clothing manufacturers of New Zealand are satisfied with the arrangements made by the Government for the production of military clothing and are able to cope with any demand that might be made upon them, according to tho .principal of one of Auckland's largest factories. When asked to-day to comment on statements that there had been a measure of bungling he pointed out that the experience of his Jinn was to the contrary. "We have had no trouble at all and we are handling great numbers of military contracts," he said. "I recently attended a meeting of NewZealand clothing manufacturers and found that their experience was the same as ours." It was pointed out that there was no fixed price for military equipment. Different manufacturers received different prices for the same type of article. The system was that the Government supplied the material, which was manufactured in local mills, and the firms making up the goods were required to submit their costs. A reasonable margin of profit was allowed. The Government had a good idea of the capacities of the various factories and the class of goods llicy could manufacture, and contracts were made in t'iic light of this knowledge, stated the "Star's" informant. Thus uneconomic work was to a large extent eliminated. To cope with the .present demand there was adequate labour available. Some of the complaints might be made in respect of small plants which had, perhaps, over-estimated their capacities and found that they were unable to complete their orders with the plant at their disposal. Again, there might have been an undor-cstimation of costs, or the size of the plants .might make it impossible to turn out the goods at the speed desired. Another point made was the attention paid by t'he Government to quality. There were rigid inspections made of goods manufactured and anything below standard was rejected. The aim was to assure that the clothing issued to the troops was the finest available.