STANDARDS FOR GOODS

Grey River Argus, 11 February 1938, Page 9

STANDARDS FOR GOODS

, LEGISLATION PENDING. An intimation that there was a likelihood of legislation being introduced in Parliament when the session resumed giving the Standards Institute statutory authority to carry out its work, was given „y the Minister of Industries and Commerce, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, in an address at the opening of the. conference of the New Zealand Master Grocers’ Federation last week. The Minister said that standardisation and certification had been adopted in nearly every country in the world, and steps were being taken to establish the principles of standards in New Zealand. The Standards Institute, which had been practically moribund, nad been brought under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and was now a live and energetic body. The bringing in of standards, said the Minister, would, he felt sure, -be welcomed by manufacturers, retailers, and the consumers. It would provide, a means of protection from the dishonest manufacturer, or the trader who, by advertising or other means, misrepresented the quality or performances of goods or other commodities. Almost every trade could supply evidence of competition' by shoddy materials and cheaper commodities which had the appearance of higher quality goods. The difference in quality was frequently difficult to discern, with the result that the customers often believed they could buy cheaper at one store than at another. Competition of that kind was most unfair and difficult to meet, and the effect of it often was to compel traders to stock inferior goods to the disadvantage of their customers and themselves. The adoption of standards as a means oi certifying the relative quality oi goods provided a measure of quality in the same way that, a standard measure of length or weight provided a measure of quantity. In the absence of some method of certifying the quality Of the goods sold over the counter in retail shops, the public were not in a position to make any allowance for the grade or quality. Those “rafferty” rules in trade that governed the transactions between seller and buyer must soon be replaced by the use of standards ahd certification as a true index of quality,, which was in itself a factor in relation to value, no less important than was measurement of quantity. •

The Minister appealed to tne grocery trade to give serious thought to the necessity for standards, which he felt ’sure would be of tremendous value to them as. traders, and to the public as consumers.

The Minister’s remarks were received with applause by the conference, and Mr. J. Heaton Barker, Dominion president of thb Dominion Master, Grocers’ Federation, expressed his appreciation of the Minister’s address. The grocery trade was deeply interested in the question of, standards, he said, and he, personally, had given considerable thought to it. The trade realised the value ,of standardisation and certifi cation and he instanced one case where there were 123 different brands of a certain commodity, ail claiming to be better than the other, and each in different shaped- and sized packages.