MANUFACTURERS FINED

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24987, 23 September 1946, Page 6

MANUFACTURERS FINED

WORK DONE WITHOUT LICENCE

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, Sept. 20. “It shocks the conscience that a small concern endeavouring to fill this gap between the public needs and the supply is refused a licence by a committee of its competitors and then prosecuted for a criminal offence for what it has done, said Mr R. Hardie Boys in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday when he appeared for the Ace Footwear Company, Ltd., of Petone, charged with manufacturing footwear without having a licence under the Industrial Efficiency Act. The information was laid by the Bureau of Industry. Mr W. R. Birks, who prosecuted, said the firm had intended to make 200 pairs of sandals weekly and applied in August. 1945, for a licence which was refused. It was again refused in December. To the Magistrate, Mr Hardie Boys said that sales han been made after the application had been refused. He said there had been some misunderstanding because a letter advising the firm it had been refused had gone astray. Mr Hardie Boys quoted at length a statement which appeared in a Christchurch newspaper on Thursday, September 12, as the report of remarks by Mr J A. Rudge, former senior inspector of footwear in Christchurch for the Department of Industries and Commerce. The Magistrate imposed a fine of £l5 and costs.