JAPANESE GOODS

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4565, 5 November 1937, Page 2

JAPANESE GOODS

SUGGESTED BOYCOTT. PRIME MINISTER SILENT. No comment was forthcoming from the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage) on the decision of the Federation of Labour to recommend a personal boycott of Japanese goods by trade unionists in New Zealand. A cablegram from Sydney, giving warning that the Japanese Government regards a boycott movement in Australia against Japanese goods as very serious, was also brought to the notice of Mr. Savage. The cablegram stated that a Japanese business man in Sydney had said that if the boycott continued it would cause Japan to retaliate against Australia's wool and wheat exports. Japan was likely to enter the wool markets in full strength early in the New Year, and

in addition would arrange for increased shipments of frozen beef for army consumption from both Australia and New Zealand. It was suggested to Mr. Savage that the Japanese reaction, as reported, might apply with equal force to New Zealand in the event of a boycott" by trade unionists. The Prime Minister agreed that any talk of a boycott was serious, but added that he was not in a position to comment on the matter at the present stage.