A TARIFF PROBLEM.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 154, 24 March 1908, Page 9

A TARIFF PROBLEM.

WHEM IS A SLIPPER NOT A SLIPPER? .MASTER BOOTMAKERS NONPLUSSED. Tlio master hoot merchants throughout tho Dominion aro indignant, as well as .nonplussed,' at tlio construction placed by tlio Customs Department upon tho definition of a slipper for .tlio. purposes, of the noiv -tariff,, and, despite the grand aggregato of technical knowledge on. tho subject that considered, tho-matter at a meeting of representatives, frbm all parts of the Dominion held'in tho Chamber' of Commerce yesterday, tho question still remains: "When is a slipper not a slipper?" . The answer, the Customs authorities glibly retort through t'no medium pf tlio tariif is: " When it is shoe!" • This needs a little definition: to the 'un-. initiated, and Mr. Robert-Hannah said to a Dominion .reporter yesterday that ono'would have to live with a bootmaker for a month, to understand the finer points in conncct-ioii With slipper and shoe-making. But, briefly,: tho Customs authorities claim. 1 that everyform of men's and women's low-topped-foot-wear which has a leather sole, however thin, is a shoe, and as such is subjcct to tho new duty—ls. per pair and 15 per cent.—whereas tho' slipper is held by the Customs experts to'ho only those—well, "slippers", which aro soled with cordage,, felt-,. canvas, carpet, etc. 1 , which articles of household, comfort a I'e still allowed into tho country undw- the old tariff—22.J per cent. . ; ;. . One' can see at a glance, 'without living with a bootmaker, that .tlicro js an enormous difference between ls..por pair, phis 15 per cent., ali<l 22i per cent-.' only, and it would seem that tlio Customs authorities were exceeding 'even their pound of flesh in inter-' preting everything of tho natiiro of a slipper with a leather sole to a shoe. : •% ■

; Tho height 'of . heels.' also enters, into the question, and hero " is' another diiß-' culty, \i'or the ladies nowadays wear slippers with heels just as lofty as' those of their ; best afternoon tea Louis 7 heelcd sho-os,. and so it becomes an extremely delicate matter to .know just wheroto.draw the line between.'a lady's bhoo arid slipper, and consequently between the'now and old tariff that • they.are-respectively -subject-to.. \ .' Tlio'matter is of the'most serious'consequence, not only to the boot'merchants .of the Dominion, but in regard to tlio comfort of ■ tho■ poorer people, who. have been so heavily and so unnecessarily taxed. 1 \ " y ■ One of Wellington's leading mbrchahtA said tliat,; summed up; -tho position - was' tha't, ; after'a forty years' connection .with the business,- he;, had to stand by- and' be told by Customs clerks. what was a shoe "and ,what was ,a slipper. Tho position 'was 'preposterously- unjustV-. particularly as- slipper-making was not aii established industry ail New Zealand. - ■' .' ; A deputation representing the I 'Wot- merchants of tho Dominion is toMvait upon tho ■Minister for Customs to-day this, particular phase of tho tariff; . , _ ■