WOMEN'S SHOES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 74, 24 September 1941, Page 6

WOMEN'S SHOES

PRODUCED IN HOUSE

THREE WEEKS' WEAR

ALLEGED

Producing a pair of women's shoes in the House of Representatives during the debate on the Standards Bill last night, Mr. A. S. Richards (Government, Roskill) said that they had been made in New Zealand, had been bought for 27s 6d, and at the end of three weeks the' outer soles had broken, the wet had penetrated, and inside had been discovered bits of cardboard. That was three years after the manufacturers had given an assurance to the Government that if they could get the New Zealand market they would produce an article worthy of production and of value for the money. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr. S. G. Holland): What were the boot inspectors doing? That is industrial efficiency. To make an attack on the boot manufacturing industry of the Dominion on the condition of one pair of shoes, as Mr. Richards had done, was an absolutely disgraceful thing to do, said Mr. W. J. Poison (National, Stratford). Mr. Richards: I never suggested anything of the kind. It was an attack, continued Mr. Polson, that was unjustified in the light of the experience of most people of New Zealand-made footwear. In a personal explanation, Mr. Richards said that he had not said that the manufacturers were producing poor goods, nor had he said unkind or hard words about them. He had merely demonstrated how in the absence of standardisation it was possible for increased wages and purchasing power to be whittled away. The vast majority of the manufacturers in New Zealand were producing the finest goods m the world. ____.