MINISTER IMPRESSED

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 95, 19 October 1937, Page 13

MINISTER IMPRESSED

THE BOOT INDUSTRY

FIRST-HAND INVESTIGATION

(By Telepraph—Press Association.)

CHRISTCHURCH, This Day.

A depressing picture of the conditions in the boot manufacturing industry in Christchurch was presented to the Minister of Labour (the Hon. H. T. Armstrong) this morning when he visited two of the leading factories. The object of the Minister's visit was to see at first hand the difficulties confronting the industry in order to try and get at the root cause of the trouble.

Mr. Armstrong explained that the Government wanted t to be sure that any steps it took to assist the industry were the right ones. The present slackness in trade, the Minister was told by the principals of the firms, developed very suddenly. They were at a loss to account for such a sudden falling off in orders, but they did know that imports, particularly from Britain, had increased very substantially. The manager of one factory said he thought that his concern would be able to weather the storm, but today 60 men and 15 women hqd been stood off for the day, and tomorrow 20 men and 30 women would be off for the day.

In another factory the amount paid out in weekly wages had dropped by £70 a week.

"Our employees are losing wages, and we are losing, the value of their production," the manager remarked. It was impressed on the Minister that the conditions today were much worse than they had been during the depression years, as orders were not coming in and stocks were accumulating. The manager mentioned the case of a man who asked to be dismissed because he would do better drawing sustenance than working such short time at the factory. The Minister was much impressed' with what he saw, and remarked that the Government had the problem under consideration.