Strangulation Of An Industry

NZ Truth, Issue 943, 22 December 1923, Page 1

Strangulation Of An Industry

It seems a lot "will bo heard next session of Parliament of the strangulation of the New Zealand boot and shoe industry by the alleged dumping of English footwear m this country, which. Is now one of the few markets open for th© English manufacturer. Canada, Australia, and South Africa have all placed : prohibitive barriers against the importation of manufactured footwear, and the Netherlands have done the same thing. New Zealand haa a 25 per cent, duty, but it is Insufficient and, -English footwear Is flooding the markets. It Ib ah important Industry, that 19 being kill- i ed m this country, for it represents ' the investment of well over a million j pounds m machinery alone. That It Is being killed is plain. One factory In Newtown which employed 90 hands six months ago has now shut its doors and the 90 workers aro out of their usual occupations. Another Wellington factory with a capacity of 1200 pairs a week is now running on 450 and Just keeping its nose above water. A couple of smaller factories we know of are running at a fifth of their capacities In tho hope of legislative action In the form of a tariff giving them a chanco to sell their output. The irony of tho thing is that a boot factory is caught between two fires. To shut up temporarily would be moro costly by far than to keep running at a smnll loss, for tho greater number of machines m uso m the manufacture of boots are not sold to the factories but nt-o leased to them by manufacturers at so much per thousand stitches with a minimum royally to, pay which means a constant drain "whether tho machine Is In use or not. As to the rein tivo qualities of the Now Zealand and. the English boots. there is little to choose, but tho .English manufacturer scores - over most local manufacturers m the small points m the finish which attract the customer. William Massey will have this situation to consider when he returns. While he was interfering m England's domestic j* flairs the other day and loudly retorting that nothing would make him shut-up It pro •»■>.« fh"t h'«» own h*)u«* wns not In ordor as to Its methods of buying boots ior the family.

"Truth" has a surprise to spring upon

an unsuspectGENERAL GODLEY ing community. AS GOVERNOR. It Is being

whispered with- ' In semi-ofllclal circles that Admiral ' Jelllcoe's successor m tho post of Governor-General will be General Alex. Godley! Can thlg be so? asks one set of querists, and, what will the , returned soldier say about it? will be the immediate comment of another | section. "Truth".,, has n very large' doubt concerning the correctness ofi the report for several reasons. General j Godley is at present m command of Britain's Army of Occupation m the j Rhineland— and that fact indicates that the War Office thinks a whole lot ! of the ox-Coiuriiandant of the New Zealand Forces. Nor could he have risen to such a high position unless he had marked abilities. He was un- t popular with the Anzacs. But It is on record that he was a high-class tactician, and of all commanders throughout the Great War, „ho has suffered least from criticism, and no failures have been charged against him. i j :; v The foregoing* news item suggests that Viscount Jellicoe does JETTISONING not intend to accept JiELLIGOE? another term of office] at Government House. This, if it Is verlfled— as undoubtedly I it will be— will be matter for general) regret throughout tho Dominion, For he has beeh the most popular of all the gubernatorial grandees m our history. He has enjoyed Maoriland co j much and has made that enjoyment so apparent, that the people feel that] ha has ~ become one of themselves, i "For he's a jolly good tcllowl" ta never more truly meant as it is sung as when musical honors are paid to the Hero of Jutland. The real reason why he cannot accept a second term as Governor ia because it is necessary to take his children Home for their education. That he would like to settlo down out here Is one of his yearnings, but all the associations of his family aro m England. For that reason tho Jellicoe ] menage must he set up m Great, not Greater Britain, which Is matter for sincere regret. '.'And so say all of us!" Chess hath Its victories no less renowned than cricket. COMING Indeed. there are those CHESS" who say that a KortCHAMPIONS. lang is n circumstance to a Kelllng. But, then. Kelllng who has been a contestant for thc chess championship these cycle of year*, ban also been a crlcketor. Enthusiasm is Kclllng's middle name, and thnt fine quality outcrops m ■r-vcrything he tackles. Ho Is out after tho covet od chess honors again this year, ami tho chessmen are gathered m Wellington m time to rend this Christmas issue of "Truth." Kelllng l« again nominated by the Wellington Working Men's Club, which nlso for thc howrmp.iytlmes spends forward that wonder man. It. .1. Barnes. In latest ..years this Jive times chess champion has been Inclined to think that if chess interfered with bowlsthen so muvh the worse for chess. Chess is the host teacher of patience and the worst enemy of net ion that "Truth" knows. Cttoss to-day' (or tonight) la played all over the place, ln city, town, nnd country. The Christmas gathering of its leading .exponents — each one of whom thinks to carry a marshal's baton In his** knapsack — Is notable. Tor instance, there Is tremondous excitement if a cheas player