SILK STOCKINGS

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 December 1940, Page 2

SILK STOCKINGS

RUSH TO PURCHASE. [per press association.] AUCKLAND, December 5. “Just send Mr. Nash to me, and I’ll tell him what I think of him,” declared a harassed assistant at the women’s hosiery counter of a large store after one of the busiest days on record after the statement in the House of Representatives on Wednesday by the Minister for Customs (Mr. Nash) on the shortage of silk stockings. Far from heeding Mr. Nash’s advice to buy fewer silk stockings, and wear fine woollen ones instead, women in Auckland besieged the hosiery counters at all stores from early morning. When the shops closed many had sold out of numerous lines. “We are always frantically busy at this time of the year,” an assistant in one shop said, “but as this morning drew on buying became phenomenal. Women were buying, not one or two pairs, but half a dozen, a doz-. en, or more. Already we have not a full range in most lines, and we have none at all in some sizes. Towards the end of this afternoon customers were not worrying about gradations of colour, but were taking anything they could get.” In another large store it was stated that at to-day’s rate of buying there would be no silk stockings, left by closing time to-morrow. Many lines were already sold out. “Ever since 10 to 9 this morning people have been queueing up, and there has been no lull since,” an assistant said at a third store. A limit of two pairs for each customer was imposed. Even so, it was stated that the shelves would be empty by Christmas at the present rate, while cheaper lines would be sold out long before the... Panic buying \. deprecated by the head of a large department store. “The statement in the House has created an unusual demand which, in the opinion of traders, is a pity,” he said. “From the figures quoted in Parliament it is apparent that there is a shortage, but there are reasonable stocks for reasonable buying.”

WELLINGTON SHORTAGE WELLINGTON, Dec. 6. Women’s fashions are quite obviously not governed by speeches on the floor of Parliament. Buying silk stockings at Wellington has not reached a stage of panic, but the majority of the stores are experiencing a definite run. Rationing has been resorted to by some stores for a considerable time past, because of the complete prohibition of overseas supplies, and the added fact that local factories are unable to fill requirements. In regard to the Minister’s advice to wear woollen stockings, one shopman said: “It seems absurd for the Minister to ask women to wear cashmere, when he has almost prohibited their entry into the country, and local factories are either unable, or too busy with other work to make them. ■Our factories have not adequate plant and cannot get yarn. How then are the women to take the Minister’s advice?”