A NEW ZEALAND INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 56, 4 September 1923, Page 4

A NEW ZEALAND INDUSTRY

TO THE EMTOR. ( Sir.—l am pleafeed to see'in to-night's "Post" a letter relating to the boot industry. Many of your readers, I feel sure, would welcome a discussion in your columns of our secondary industries -in general, and of this on© in particular. Our secondary industries maintain, perhaps, one-third of our population, and while they are not so important as our primary products'to the welfare of the country, yet they are worthy of serious consideration. As your correspondent, "Gum Boots," indicates, the present position points to the early extinction of the greater part ofothe boot and shoe industry in New Zealand, and yet it is one of the most important of our secondary industries. And this, not because New Zealand can j not make good boots and shoes. The ! "Diggers" knew that in France. Those who, like myself, have had experience in both English and local factories know the good value of tho local pro--duct, particularly with regard to children and maids' footwear. Then wages are higher by from 50 to 75 per cent., and hours of labour are lees. General working conditions are better. -The boot and shoe industry, then, in this country, is, I contend, worth preserving. What is New Zealand going to do about it? Twenty-five per- cent, seems a sufficient tariff on English-made footwear. But nob if British boots mean boots made in .Britain; of leather mad© in Germany, or in some other foreign country, .whose labour -condition* and wages and rate, of exchange give them an overwhelming advantage over ! the New Zealand-made article. And if_ the tariff on British-made footwear is to remain a.t 25 per cent., it is up to the powers-that-be to insist on: British imports beinsr branded, "Brit-ish-made, of all British •leather."—l am, etc. ; : • ■■ ■ ' I o, ,-.■-' BOOT BOX. 31st August;