SHOPKEEPERS' OPPORTUNITY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 110, 11 May 1909, Page 6

SHOPKEEPERS' OPPORTUNITY.

A low-pressure cyclone has darkened the sky, but we trust that the shop keepers will respond with an anti- cyclone of high-pressure to-morrow. Their enthusiasm and fervour in the cause of local industries should make the people forget that the southerly is chill. It is hoped that the Industrial Association, in its effort to make local manufactures bloom above all others, will not puffer the fate of the Scenery Preservation Society, which decided last night to die in the despair of ever arousing public opinion. The mistake of the society wa§ that it vvaa too modest ; it spoke

in whispers at times when clarion notes were needed. The public is impressionable, but workers among the public en counter the paradox that the more the public is impressionable, the more difficult it is to impress. The reason lies in the multiplicity of persons who aim at impressing the people with the excel lehce of various pleas. There are many voices calling at the public, and' the voice that is to score must have a noticeably audible ring. The people are much blamed for apathy— and they have deserved some of the strictures— but they may bring a counter-charge of apathy against some of those who havo complained. Apathy is infectious, and so is enthusiasm. Listlessness is contagious, and so is fervour.. Ilence, if the shopkeepers desire to profit by "Indus tries Week," they must make a show of energy to convince the people that they are in earnest. If the manufac turers wish to have their wares treated fairly in the shops, they must busy themselves among the shopkeepers, to impress upon them that the popularising of the "made in New Zealand" brand must act for the good of the producer, the middleman, and the consumer. Nothing should be left to and haphazard. Manufacturers complained *a few days ago about the survival of the prejudice against local productions; the remedy is not beyond the complainants' power. Not by suffering in silence will they widen the maiket for theii wares. They must make a stir in the marketplace ; they must busily assist in the making of such a demonstration as cannot fail to make the people mindful of their duty to their own country, mindful of their own self-interest, in the present or the future. Some work remains, apparently, for that subcommittee appointed by the Industrial Association to "work up" and wake up the shopkeepeis.