THE DUTY ON FLANNELETTES.

Evening Post, Volume L, Issue 38, 13 August 1895, Page 3

THE DUTY ON FLANNELETTES.

TO THE EDITOR. Sib —May I be allowed a few words as to the proposed duty on flannelettes, viz., 20 per cent. We have Mr. Reeves' assuranoe to the effeot that it was put on at the instance of the woollen manufacturers, who have an impression that rednoing the sale of flannelettes will proportionately increase the sale of colonial flannels. As a soft goods man of SO years' New Zealand experience I have no hesitation in saying that the woollen I men have grossly misled the Tariff Commissioners. The very characteristics which render flannel undesirable as a material for 'general wear are wholly absent in flannelette. Take a garment mode of colonial flannel after it has been washed a few times. It has beoome stiff and unpleasant, and is fonnd to have shrunk abominably. Why, may we ask, has flannelette become so popular as ft material for shirting and ladies' underclothing. One of the chief reasons is that it does not show the dirt as much as calico, and another is that it is very easily washed— far more easily washed than calioo. Then take the patterns. These oan be had in a vast variety to suit any purpose or taste, and if the woollen men think they are going to foist their wretched Shetland pink and white flannels on to the women of this colony as a substitute for flannelette they are mightily mistaken. The duty, if it decreases the sale of flannelettes (which I doubt), will simply increase the sale of oalioo, which was used prior to flannelettes coming into vogue. There is not a house in New Zealand that flannelette is not used largely in, and the 20 per cent, will be indeed felt a tax, and will fall particularly heavy on the working classes. To me it is a marvellous thing that a Government posing as a working man Government should attempt to extort a duty of 20 per cent, on a line ot which the working classes are large consumers. The woollen mills cannot possibly benefit by it, and if any of these managers had been trained to the soft goods business they would recognise this. The large wholesale importers prefer a heavy duty aa we well know 1 that it is eternally true as Mill says, that i the more oapital it takes to run a business, : so muoh greater is the tendency for suoh business to fall into few hands, and it is at , once apparent that the small importer is handioapped by having to find large sums in ' oash for the Government duty before he oan > handle his imports. The 20 per oent. duty i on flannelettes is therefore a direct blow to 1 the working classes, and entirely in the in- ) terests of the large importers. > lam, &0., • Soft Goods. i Dunedin, Bth August.

Keferonoe was made at this afternoon's meeting of the Benevolent Trustees to the address of the Rev. W. A. Evans at the Forward Movement service on Sunday, disapproving of the manner in whioh the unemployed difficulty was being dealt with in New Zealand. Mr. F. Brady oharaoterised the statements of the rev. gentleman as mischievous and damaging. The Chairman said that the statements were quite erroneous. Messrs. Ross, Gale, and others deserved credit for what they had done to relieve the distress amongst the unemployed. Mr. C. E. Willeston oonourred in the Chairman* remarks. Mr. Bradey said that Mr. Evans' remarks were in very bad taste. The subject then dropped. Yesterday afternoon and this morning the Magistrate's Court was ocoupied by a case in whioh J. Toomey, commission agent, olaimed .£99 10a 3d from Hamilton Gilmer, hotelkeeper, and a cross aotion in whioh H. Gilmer olaimed .£4910s from Toomey. In the main easo the plaintiff asserted that he agreed to purchase from the Island Bay Hotel some fowls, whioh were not delivered, although paid for. There was also a claim for goods Bold, and a fnrther one for damages for illegal seizure of the stock-in-trade of the hotel. In the cross-action the plaintiff alleged that hn was the owner of the reversion expectant on the determination of the tenanoy of the Hotel, and that the defendant hod damaged the premises in removing oortain water-tanks therefrom. Mr. Edwards appeared for Toomey, and Mr. Skerrett for Gilmer. The case wns not conoluded when we went to press. A married woman who haß been reoeiving relief from the Benevolent Institution for a considerable time was called before the Trustees this afternoon, and asked why she lad not acquainted them with the fact that for the past nine months she had been in a situation, getting £1 per week. She said that she thought her husband, who was sick and unable to work, would have told ,tbe Trustees that she was in employment. The people for whom she had been working hod left Wellington, and she was now looking about for something else to do. The Chairman said that she had done a great wrong in not acquainting the Trustees with her actual oiroumstanoea for some months past. The woman said that the food supplied by the Trustees was consumed by ter hnaband and her children, to whom she had given the greater part of her earnings. The Trustees decided that as she had lost her situation the aaaistance should be continued. Judgments for the plaintiffs by defanlt were entered np by Mr. Martin, S.M., to-day, in the following oivil oases :—J. O'Neil v. John Cummings, .£6 13s; Ovorend and Clarke v. James Preatidge, £i 9s 6d; Charles Stuart and Co. v. Bees and Day, .£1 13s 6d; Peroy Mumford v. Mrß. M. Swindale, £1 16n 4d; same v. Mrs. M. Jesßop, £1 6a Id; Brieooe, MaoNeil and Co. v. G. M'Beath and Co., .£32 la 6d; J. Newberry v. S. N. Manaon, £6 17a 6d; Johanna Flookton v. John White, £6 7a lOd; Cook and Gray v. Allan Orr, .£1 ss; Peroy Mumford v. Herbert Wyatt, £1 2s 9d; Harconrt ft Co. v. Wm. Dunn, £7 12s; Cook and Gray v. Thos. Ryan, 11s 6d. Judgment summons—W. G. N. Baillie v. Naughton Smith, defendant ordered to pay XI 2s 6d forthwith, in defanlt to nndergo three days' imprisonment. The new steamer of the New Zealand Shipping Company—the Bakaia, now on her maiden trip to Queensland, to load under the auspices of the British India Company — is desoribed by those who saw her prior to leaving London as a remarkably fine-looking vessel. Though on similar lines to the Shirs Line steamers Buteshire and Perthshire, she is more graceful in appearanoe, while the saloon (wbioh accommodates about 15 persons), smoking and reading .rooms, officers' quarters, &c, are more elaborately decorated than those of the oompany's passenger steamers. Mr. Hammond, late of the Aorangi, is chief officer, and Messrs. Lawler and Fisk second and third offioerc The machinery is for the maiden trip under the supervision of the bnilders' guarantee engineer, but Mr. Stewart, late 6econd engineer of the Aorangi, and who for the present trip ia eecond ongineer on the fiakaia, will tike full charge when she returna to London. The steamer is at present commanded by one of the captains of T the British India Company. Notwithstandins all the oounter, at tractions, the Sale at Mr. C. Smith's, the .Cash Draper, Cuba-street, is having a thorough good run. The customers are juat as keen after the Bargains to-day aa - they were the firat day the Sale started. To-morrow Borne most extraordinary bargains in blankets, umbrellas, mantles, millinery, and dreas materials will be offered; also, two bales of sheeting slightly damaged, i at 6d per yard. In the Clothing Depart- " ment, men's and boys' overcoats are getting a start, and you can get one less than half price. —Advt.

tor continuation o] rtaaxng matter tee jourth paqa.