THE FACTORIES BILL.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13881, 4 November 1910, Page 9

THE FACTORIES BILL.

CLAUSK DKLWtU. 'j EVIDENCE. fgTSCIAI. TO "THE rHE3S.") WFI I INGTON, November 2. articKvi uero r.K-:rao«ed >» the list .rJuvlri- now strui-k out), as tolloiv*.— t,xt:l, B o,kK leafier £~:,'(,. "niriiii-ir.-. ...nncd and preserved i.,>r>l-;' for hu:i:ai! roi:.-,umption. Ti.f cvideno.' : n],-<•!) Ivy the- rommittee <* bas'bofi! onU-ml :.n be printed. Mr W. Pr.vr, in hi.> evidence, urged that no further re-trictions should bo iJaccrl nn Eurm;, an laundries. Competition from Chlm:-' hi-a n~.lv i< s a very serious t!,i;;j. in «> far as European laurdrkv. were < -oncc-nicd. He .said then. , uero ;>o Chines laundries and Jy European Lwndne:-; in Wellington, r.ot including t!'c suburbs. Speaking <m the branding clause, Mr Prvor a.ked that it be delated altorctber. He s-iid: '-Wo s;iy tliat the requirements would be found t<. be impracticable in some ca.ses, and would b.« foil nil to have exact';-' the opposite, e/i'ret to what was intended. We take it," he said, "thai the intention is to encourage arui ir.'.-reaso the Kale of those New Ze;i.!ard-niade articles, and to foster a patriotic feeling in ennneetion with thtMi. Tho clause, provides that they should be branded as 'Madu in New Zealand.' Them is no question that in connection with some of the (roods mentioned you oro going to destroy the sale to :i very serious orctent, andas a matter of fact hurt both the employers and the. workers. "With re •rord to clothing and textile goods, tlio woollen peo-)lo havo not tho same objection as the toot people, and they d<l advertise their business largely as New Zealand tjoods; but in wools New /eahnd'has made a name for herself, and 1 it would not do any harm. I do not want to £o through all tho details of this clause, but we submit tliat if they have a narccl of hosiery with a label on that would not be sufficient to meet Vμ requirements. What good is tho proposeil enactment going to do. J Iho < man who buys a pair of socks or tho I woman who buys a pair of stockings I <lo«'S not look at tho label on tho parI eel. Tf it is going to have any effect, tho brand would havo to be woven in, and that would increase the cost of ! production, and wo consider that it is ' neither practicable nor necessary. I have consulted with Mr Donne, and I not Mr Scott in Dunodin to get hold of the Mosgiel people, and I found that to enab'o tho brajnd to bo inserted on the selvedge it would mean the importing of very expensive machinery, while they inform mc that tho output was not sufficient to warrant that. They advertise their goods, and if it were commercially practicable tho woollen people would be "lad to do it in regard to rugs and worsted articles, but in some cases it -would bo impracticable, and compliance in other eases -would not be effective. With regard to clothing, there are many men who are wearing suits of New Zealand stuff, but think they are wearin" imported goods; and if they ■were to bo told that definitely when buying their clothing, they would want the imported goods. Then, in regard to canned and preserved foeds for human consumption, I do not know how that is practicable. Tho brand would have to bo embossed on the tins, and I question whether it is pood business from tho point of view of increa.<ring the demand for jVcw Zeal and- made articles that this should bo enforced. This is : already clone in many cases. Even it tho brand 'Made in New Zealand' is desirable, the time lias not come in New Zealand when such a law should! be put into operation. It is going to have a "very ill effect upon the industries dealt with imder the clause and from every point of view. If it is deemed desirable that legislation of some sort should be made, then we should 6u;igw»t that the simple expedient adopted by England, Victoria, and other countries of insisting that the imported article should bear tho mark of the manufacturing country, should bo adopted here. In that way you would fi"t the samo advantage that is how sought for. Where it is policy to brand New Zealand articles by the manufacturer, they will very soon find it out, and make it a husines.i proposal." Mr Robert Hannah, boot merchant, Wellington, snid if tho branding law was introduced he had no hesitation in .saying that the sale of the upper grades, in which they were endeavouring, to compete with the imparted article, would be- affected- by 50 per (■fnt. He said they made ne good boote as they imported, hut they had not trot the public to believe so. During the course of his evidence Mr Hannah snid:--"I might tell you that at one time we had a very loyal Premier and a very loyal Attorney-General. These tiro, gentlemen came in, and I served them myself. They wanted colonial Roods, and I certainly showed them pood stuff as well as imported stuff. Tho Premier took three pairs of tlio imported goods, and the Attornoykenpral two; so there- is your loyalty."