Empire Shopping.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19312, 17 May 1928, Page 8

Empire Shopping.

It can hardly be necessary to remind our readers that the Empire Shopping effort which begins to-morrow is pure patriotism from first to last. It has been organised without any public appeal for funds, and whatever success it may have it will not benefit any of the organisers directly. The Committee has not even been anxious to give itself an official title, though it has been hird at work for two months, and will follow up its campaign when Shopping Week ends on May 24th. But what chiefly concerns it in the meantime is that the purpose of its effort should not-be forgotten or misjudged. It was not to help the British manufacturer only that it arranged this Week, or the manufacturer of our own Dominion, but all manufacturers under the British flag, and all British consumers. For it would of' course be a foolish campaign in the long run if it brought trade to this or that industry or group of industries without bringing proof to customers as well of the abiding quality of British goods. We understand that the posters used by the Committee, or a large number of them, have been sent specially from England by the British Women's Patriotic League in response to a cable for assistance by Lady Rhodes, and they are the v best kind of assistance the League could have rendered. For thg idea behind the whole campaign is simply that the Empire is big enough, rich enough, intelligent enough, and enterprising enough to provide all the thousands of commodities its people need in every corner of the globe if a little time is given to re-establish the Empire habit. There is no kind of ill-will implied to other countries or Empires, but simply a belief in our own people and in our own resources under a proper system of co-operation. And there is fortunately no question of party or of sectional rivalry here in Christchurch. The Committee is being supported not only by all the retailers of the City, but by the wholesalers arid manufacturers, and also, and very heartily, by the Mayor and other representative citizens. We are sure the general public will do its shopping for the next week with as much generosity as it can afford, and with a new conception of the importance of buying within our own national borders.