NEW ZEALAND BOOTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8190, 3 August 1912, Page 1

NEW ZEALAND BOOTS.

AND IMPORTED. SUGGESTED ADOPTION OF THE •‘UNION LABEL.” “"W ASSOCIATION. CHRISTCHURCH, August 2. Tlio question of tlio imported boot v. tho Dominion-manufactured article continues to rage. Its latest manifestation is an exhibition by tho secretary of the Bootmakers’ Federation of an imported boot, alleged to have been sold as “real box calf” for one guinea, but really made partly of chrome leather (a cheap product) and partly of brown paper. The boot was dilapidated, and big pieces of brown paper were easily torn from it. Tho inner soles wore of cardboard. It is estimated jthai such a boot could be made in Now Zealand for from 5s to 7s 6d, and leave a profit for the wholesaler and the retailor.

Tho other side of tho question was presented when a local retailer produced a “hand-sewn welted boot,” aajd to have been made in the Dominion, but which had fallen apart in less than three months after it was purchased. It had cost 21s, and though only worn on an average of not more than twice a week the solo of one of the boots had come away almost entirely from its upper. The boots were worth not more than 12s. Naturally the purchaser who usually purchased English-made footwear was far from being impressed with the sample of tho New Zealand manufactured article he purchased. Referring to the last-mentioned case tho secretary of tho Bootmakers’ Federation, Mr G. 11. Whiting, stated that there arc no hand-sewn welted boots made by New Zealand firms, they must have been made by a small repairer in the old method of seat work —that is, work made on tho knee. If tho boots were made by a New Zea. land manufacturer they were not hand-sewn welted boots, but, would he stitched by machinery. It was exceptional for the stitch of machinc-sewn boots to give away, but tho boots referred to might have been tho exception to the rule. In any case the boots. alleged to have been made in New Zealand contained solid leather, and did not consist of the rubbish that was contained in tho English-manufae> tured hoot first referred to. For every boot like tho alleged Dominion-made one that could bo. produced, he con. produce from ten to twenty foreignmade like the one he had produced, which depended also on tho, retailer. Ho knew for a positive fact that retailors frequently sold imported goods as Dominion-made because, by doing so, they made from 3s 6d to 7s 6d more profit. Ho instanced the case of n lady who asked him to recommend her to a bootmaker who could supply her with good New Zealand-made ■boots. He gave her the name of one of tho largest boot firms in the city, and she purchased a pair of allegedly New Zealand-mado boots and brought them to him. He found that they were English made. When he made representation to the retailer the latter asked him if ho could bo Blamed when ho could make from 5s to 7s fid more by selling tho imported article'" Asked what steps were contemplated in order to protect purchasers of boots, Mr Whiting said that one Bug gestion was that roreign manufacturers should be called on to specify tho material of which tho boots the> scut to tho Dominion consisted. Another cuggestion put forward to prevent inferior New Zealand-manu-factured boots being forced on the public was that tho State should he. come a manufacturer or else open boot depots where boots made to specifications laid down by the State would be sold. He had been advocating Tor a number of years that hoots made in tho Dominion should be branded “Made in New Zealand,” but so far he had been unable to secure legislation in that direction. At present the federation was considering t|je advis ablcness of providing for a union ticket to he attached to boots made in New Zealand, and was endeavouring to induce manufacturers to adopt the system of federating, in turn undertaking to endeavour to induce the public to purchase only boots having the union ticket or label. The federation’s trouble in this matter was to induce manufacturers, to brand all their.goods. A number of manufacturers were willing to fall in with the federation’s idea, and he anticipated that the federation would bo successful in its efforts to get the union label ■ principle adopted.