JAPANESE GOODS.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20906, 13 July 1933, Page 4

JAPANESE GOODS.

EMBARGO SUGGESTED. "How would you make net profit, remain loyal to the Empire, and eliminate Japanese merchandise?" This was a question asked by Mr J McWhannell, at a "Business Problems Night" held by members of the Canterbury Advertising Club last evening. He added that with the Japanese merchandise he would include Soviet goods. The chairman (Mr G. H. Holford): Most retailers would say of that question, "If I do not sell the foreign goods, others will, and if I do not make the profit, others will." While the material from places like Japan is there, the people buy it, and do not bother much about the brand. Mr J. J. Stout said that the selling of cheap foreign articles was pricecutting. If one man did it the other had to, too, or go out of business. It was well known that Japanese goods were manufactured under poor conditions not up to the New Zealand standard, and he thought that a full embargo should be placed on the importation of cheap goods such as those that came from Japan. The chairman sail! he thought that the matter was one for political action rather than individual action. Mr McWhannell: Patriotism comes second to self-preservation. The people will go where they can get the most for their money, but eventually the chickens will come home to roost. After further discussion, it was generally agreed that individual action was impossible; the problem could be remedied only by Government action in restraining the importation of Japanese goods.