OFFER DECLINED

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 132, 1 December 1945, Page 9

OFFER DECLINED

AIJSTRALiAM-fyiADE SUITS

A tentative offer was made recently to New Zealand for the supply of a quantity of Australian austerity suits, the Minister of Supply (Mr. Sullivan) disclosed in the House of Representatives yesterday, when replying to an urgent question by Mr. G. F. Sim (National, Rotorua).

The Minister added that the suits were manufactured from single-weft cloth, with inferior linings, and it was understood that they were originally made for returning Australian servicemen. Samples were inspected in New Zealand by wholesalers and retailers, and discussions were held between the various sections of the trade and the Government Departments concerned. It was decided that the suits should not be imported with the object of supplying them to returned New Zealand servicemen, as they were not. acceptable according to Dominion standards, and the possibility of there being any market for them was very doubtful.

Mr. Sim had asked whether the Government had negotiated for the importation of Australian-made civilian suits for sale to New Zealand returned men. He said that according to a drapery trade bulletin suits could be bought by Australians for £2 15s each, but apparently were unacceptable to the Australians.