SHORTAGE OF BLANKETS

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25245, 25 July 1947, Page 6

SHORTAGE OF BLANKETS

REPORT OF IMPORTS FROM AUSTRALIA (P.A.) DUNEDIN, July 24. Lack of staff is given by woollen manufacturers in Otago as the only reason for the shortage of blankets in New Zealand. Attention has been drawn to the shortage by an announcement that army blankets are to be imported from Australia to help meet the urgent demand in New Zealand. In some instances woollen mills are now operating with only half the staff they possessed when they were able to meet the demands of the public for woollen goods. “During the war we were able to turn out thousands and, thousands of blankets for the services and still meet to a large extent civilian demands/’ said one manufacturer. “Now we cannot meet civilian demands alone. It is entirely a matter of staff. It is wrong that in this country we have not the labour to produce the essential goofis the public requires and our mills are capable of turning' out” A Dunedin man who has just returned from a visit to Australia said yesterday that he had bought good quality white double blankets at £2 19s a pair. Postage to New Zealand, probably the dearest form of freight, amounted to 4s lid, and duty to 18s, making a total of £4 Is lid for blankets, compared with over £5 for a comparable pair in a Dunedin shop. Single blankets at £2 4s fid retail ?.n Australia were almost £ 1 cheaper than those on sale in New Zealand. “It is impossible and unreasonable to compare the prices of blankets in this way without knowing full details as to size, quality, weight, and type of wool used,” a representative of a woollen mill said when asked to comment on the difference in price “I can say that I am confident that, quality for quality, our New Zealand mills could compete with anything Australia could produce, provided we had the staff to do the work.”