MORE PILLAGING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20636, 16 August 1941, Page 8

MORE PILLAGING

DOMINION PACKAGES INQUIRIES PROCEEDING REPLY TO MINISTER (Per Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, this clay. A reply to the statement by the Minister-in-Charge of Police, the I-Inn. P. C. Webb, that the number of reported cases of pillaging had decreased in the last year was made yesterday by the secretary of the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation, Mr. D. I. MacDonald. “The Minister's statement as such must be accepted," Mr. MacDonald said, “as it is no doubt based on the facts available to the Minister. II refers, however, to only one aspect of the question. Manufactures would have felt happier it the inquiries made by the Minister had been more penetrating than they apparently have been. “As far as is known no inquiries have been made from manufacturers, who could have supplied a great deal of evidence. The reduction in the. number of reported instances of pillaging does not necessarily mean a reduction in the total value of goods pillaged, or a reduction in the number of cases or packages pillaged. Manufacturers are still of the opinion that pillaging is on the increase and the federation is going on with its investigations and efforts to put a stop to this wherever possible. “In view of the war conditions and the difficulties of obtaining new and satisfactory packing material, and also of the necessity to avoid waste, the question of pillaging becames still more serious.