NEW ZEALAND MADE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19676, 30 June 1927, Page 12

NEW ZEALAND MADE.

Sir,—Undoubtedly "Local Worker" hits the right nail on the head in his letter regarding New Zealand Made Goods. It is the local retailer who is the greatest enemy of the local manufacturer. The public are to blame also because they ask for imported articles and think it superior to sneer at anything made in the Dominions. The retailer panders to this " superior " taste because it is the line of least resistance; local goods have to be sold, while the imported sell themselves, not from any superior quality but because the public imagines that it must possess virtue or have acquired it on the journey. It is fashionable to say " I eat nothing but imported confectionery " or " wear nothing but imported shoes." Retailers stock up largely on the imported lines; they have in many cases to order in fair quantities and having got them on the shelves they push the import well to the front and the locally made article, if it is stocked at all, is kept well in the background. Is there a remedy ? I offer a drastic one; let the manufacturers combine and open up their own retail shops. It would mean a big outlay and a revolutiorl in trade but combine, advertise and carry your own stocks in every street of the big cities and every country town throughout the Dominion. Sink your petty jealousies and differences and work for your own good and the good of the country you live in. Anti-import.