WHENCE THE KILTS?

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 91, 19 April 1939, Page 10

WHENCE THE KILTS?

SCOTTISH REGIMENT

N.Z. OR IMPORTED?

A deputation representing the Scottish Regimental Associations of the four centres of New Zealand waited upon the Minister of Defence (the Hon. F. Jones) today with a request that kilts and other equipment for the Scottish Regiment now being formed should be imported from the Black Watch depot in Great Britain instead of being procured in the Dominion. The Minister, in his reply, said that the equipment should be manufactured in New Zealand if it were possible, and he did not anticipate any difficulty in that direction.

The deputation was led by Mr. J. G. MacKenzie, chairman of the Wellington Association of Scottish Societies, the others being Messrs. J. P. Macdonald (representing Auckland), J. Caldwell (representing Dunedin), J. Leuchars (representing Christchurch), A. Hogg, P. McKenzie, S. McDonald, and J. R. Henderson. Enthusiastic progress was being made with the formation of the Scottish Regiment in all centres, said Mr. MacKenzie, and money and recruits were coming in at a rate which exceeded expectations. Kilts and other equipment should be procured from overseas as early as possible, said Mr. Macdonald, as they could not be satisfactorily produced in the Dominion. The Cheviot wool used gave imported kilts a different texture from those woven in New Zealand, and local designs and dyes were not entirely suitable. The Glengarry bonnet was a knitted garment which could not be made in New Zealand. The sporran could not be made in New Zealand, and the cloth used for the spats was not procurable here, but it might be possible to make the hose here. There were only 12 kilt-makers in New Zealand, and it would take them two years to make the kilts that were needed. The cost of equipment procured locally, even if it were possible to make everything, would be more than £12, whereas the same equipment could be imported from the Black Watch depot for not more than £5 10s. MINISTER'S REPLY. Congratulations on the enthusiasm shown by those associated with the Scottish Regiment were extended to the deputation by the Minister. He was just as keen as they were to see the Regiment parade in proper kilts, he said, but he could not subscribe to the points raised by Mr. Macdonald. They should get a New Zealand-made kilt if they could. It was the policy of the Government to have manufactured in New Zealand as much as it could, and he personally did not believe that there would be a delay of two years or even twelve months in equipping the men who had enlisted. Specifications had been received from the Old Country for the uniforms needed, and local woollen mills had been asked to give samples. A representative of the Onehunga mills had said that they could turn out a tartan as good as that worn by the Black Watch, and there were Scottish people in the Dominion who thought it could be done. From reports received he did not anticipate any difficulty, and there should be no undue delay in the equipping of the Regiment. He wanted to see it equipped up to the standard of the Black Watch.

Members of the deputation quoted instances of New Zealand-made kilts being found unsatisfactory, and Mr. Macdonald said that the New Zealand industry could not be expected to equal the imported kilt, as it had not the same material to work on.