JAPANESE GOODS

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 19, 22 July 1933, Page 14

JAPANESE GOODS

TARIFF REQUESTS

CROCKERY PATTERNS

PIEATING OF DESIGNS

Further representations for specific duties against Japanese goods were made by McDuffs, Ltd., before tho Tariff Commission today The Comptroller of Customs (Dr. G. Craig) presided, and associated with him were Professor B. E. Murphy and Messrs. J. B. Gow and G. A. Pascoe. The firm submitted a list of specific duties which bring tho landed costs of foreign crockery and glassware up to that of tho landed costs of" British products.

Mr. W. T. Richards, representing McDuffs, Ltd., said that he was not approaching the commission as an interested party. They made their profit irrespective of the origin of tho importations. It did not matter from a business point of view whether the crockery they sold came from Britain, Germany, or Japan, but they desired to fostoi' trado with the United Kingdom, and the representations they were making were for tho purpose of placing British goods on an equal basis of landing costs with foreign goods. At the present timo foreign competition was having a disastrous effect on British trade in crockery and glassware. Mr, Eichards produced samples of competing English and Japanese crockery and glassware, and gave details of the comparative costs. For instance, a line of cups which cost 9d per dozen at the factory in Japan could not be purchased at less than 2s 9d per dozen at the English works.

NO TRADE MAEK,

Professor Murphy: Is there any trade mark to show that they are * Japanese goods? Mr. Eichards: No. The importers ask that there be no indication showing that they are Japanese goods. They ask only that English' goods be marked.

Professor Murphy: So you can say that the Japanese are forced to attempt to deceive the buyer?

Mr. Richards: Yes. Professor Murphy: That is important.

Mr. Richards: Of course they deliberately try to copy English patterns. Professor Murphy: Would you say that this stuff is rubbish?

Mr. Richards: It would be called rub bish in the trade.

Professor Murphy: Is it rubbish? Mr. Richards: Yes, in some cases. It does not give the same wear as English crockery. Mr. Paseoe: Isn't there one danger pomt —the quality is improving? Mr. Richards: Yes, importers ask them to copy English sets. Professor Murphy: Do I understand that they are invited to do this by importers of British nationality?

SYDNEY BEQUEST,

Mr. Richards: I have found it dimcult to get information on the subject, but I have been told that a firm in Sydney asks them to do this. He said that he had seen a range of samples of Japanese crockery which had boon copies of English lines. Professor Murphy: Our people have instigated them to pirate British lines? Mr. Richards: Yes, it is done by firms not interested in British trade. He said that none of the decorations on the samples he had submitted were direct copies of British designs. The British manufacturer had to go to great expense to make the moulds and obtain the decorative design, but it was easy for the Japanese to make a copy once the finished article had been made.

Mr. Gow: Tho Birmingham people have been copying designs for years. They will even make idols for worship. Professor Murphy: That is true. They will make altar rails for Italian churches and idols for niggers in Africa so long as there is a profit in it. .

EFFECT ON BRITAIN.

Mr. Eichards said that the transfer of New Zealand's crockery-buying from England to Japan meant that British workers would be placed on the dole. While on the- dole they would buy margarine instead of butter. As the United Kingdom wos practically the only market for New Zealand's produce, it was in the interests of tho Dominion to stimulate employment in the Mother Country and enable her people to buy New Zealand's butter, apples, honey, and other products. Because of the falling-off in English imports a number of ships were coming out to New Zealand in ballast, and this was a form of economic waste. A greater measuro of trade with the United Kingdom would help tho shipping.' position and bring down the cost of freights.

In answer to Dr. Craig, the witness stated that if the prices were equal the public would buy English crockery._ It was the wide disparity in the prices which gave the trade to Japan. "Our staff hate handling Japanese goods," he said. '

BUILDING MATERIAL.

Mr. J. W. Davies, representing tho British Eoinforced Concrete Engineering Co,, Ltd., asked for the reduction in the duties on high tensile spot-weld fabric. This fabric was of vital importance in building for earthquako resistance, and he asked that it bo placed on the same level for duty purposes as the much less effective fabrics. The company has a branch in Australia, from ■which the New Zealand importations were obtained. The company was being run substantially by English capital. At the present timo the inferior fabric was admitted duty free, but spot-weld fabric of 3-16 th of an inch and over was subject to a tariff of 20 per cent.