CHAIN STORES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 248, 17 September 1936, Page 9

CHAIN STORES.

PETITION TO HOUSE. BONA FIDES OF SIGNATURES. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Sept. 16. The bona fides of a large number of the 9480 signatures to a recent petition to Parliament for legislation to curb the activities of chain stores in New Zealand, were challenged by Mr G. G. Watson when the Industries and Commerce Committee of the House of Representatives resumed its inquiry today. Mr Watson, who is appearing for a of departmental stores, said a hurried perusal of the petition disclosed that several of the signatures were in the same handwriting and that scores nnd scores of Chinese and Hindus had 6igned their names without a tittle of evidence to show they understood what they were doing. The petition which was presented to the House urges tho Government to prevent departmental stores from carrying on more than one class of business under the same roof and to prevent overseas capital from entering into the New Zealand retail trade.

It was sponsored by Arthur Douglas Wylie, of Wellington, who told the committee that he had travelled 16,000 miles to collect the signatures of retailers in every nook and corner from North Cape to Bluff. He had received little or no wages.

Mr Watson said that before Mr Wylie was heard he would like to read a letter addressed to the chairman of the committee (Mr J. Hodgens, M.P.). The chairman : I haven’t seen any letter. If it is addressed to me how on earth did you get hold of it? (Laughter.) Mr Watson explained that the letter had been given to him with instructions to read it at the inquiry and then hand it to the chairman. It was from five manufacturing and retailing concerns who alleged that their signatures had been obtained by misrepresentation. The letter, which was read by Mr Watson and put in, was as follows :

“We, the undersigned, desire to dissociate ourselves from the petition promoted by the Massed Retail Traders’ Political Association on the ground that our signatures thereto were obtained by misrepresentation in that we were assured-of the intention of the petition being designed only tor the regulation of chain store busine es as distinct from that of the orumary departmental establishment. Signed: Brown, Ewing and Co., Ltd., Drapery and General Importing Co., of New Zealand, Ltd., Wolfenden an'd ltussell, Arthur Barnett, Ltd., Drapery Supplies’ Association, Ltd. Mr Watson said he would suggest that the committee should carefully scrutinise the petition. During the short time lie had had to go through it he had noticed several signatures purporting to be those of Chinese but obviously written by a European. A number of Chinese and Hindu fruiterers had attached their names to the petition, although how the Chinese and Hindu fruiterers were at all concerned in the inquiry he was at a loss to understand. He ventured the opinion that, if the signatures of only the bona fide retailers were taken into account, the number remaining would be very small indeed. Mr Wylie said the petition wasthe largest ever presented to a New Zea land Parliament by the business community. It was a fact that four . OI five so-called big business men who had signed the document had asked subsequently for the removal of their names. The petition, however, had nothing whatever to do with the organisation known as the Massed Retail Traders’ Political Association. It was ridiculous to suggest that any of those who had signed their names did not understand the meaning of the document when the wording consisted ot only a few lines.