POOR "ALL-WOOL" SOCKS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22710, 24 October 1935, Page 6

POOR "ALL-WOOL" SOCKS

t ■ STATEMENT (CHALLENGED QUALITY OF ENGLISH GOODS A charge recently reported to have been levelled against the quality of English manufactured goods by Mr A. E. Mander. secretary of the New Zealand Manufac turers' Federation, ha£ been taken up by a London business man who is at present in Auckland. The matter was first brought up at a meeting of the Wellington Manufacturers' Association, which Mr F. Jones, M.P. for Dunedin South, attended for the purpose of displaying a number of cheap imported socks labelled; "wool," "pure wool," and " all wool." The socks had been treated with acid, and Mr Jones stated that the result "proved that, with the exception of one pair, they contained from 50 to 100 per cerit. of cotton. According ,to a newspaper report, Mi Mander stated in subsequent discussion: "Mr Jones's demonstration will help to explode the idea that' everything that comes from England is prst-class as compared witli everything we make in New Zealand. The contrary is nearer the truth." MR MANDER'S EXPLANATION. After reading the report, the London business man wrote to Mr Mander, asking for the names of the manufacturers of the socks. Mr Mander Replied that he was informed that the names had been disclosed to the British Trade Commissioner, the Industrial and Commerce Department and the police, and so far as he was aware it was not proposed to publish them otherwise. Ha added that the sentence quoted from the! report was incorrect. The suggestion .that everything that came from England was of poor quality was obviously one that no sensible man could make. !. In reply to a later request that he should inform the press thjit lie had been grossly misquoted, Mr MaiHler wrote that the error did not seem > to warrant him in making " much ado" about it. lie continued: "The fact is tltat some of the goods we import from England arc of excellent quality, ivhile othfers are shoddy and rubbish: so that it is'impossible to make a valid generalisation l -about them. GENERALISATION TOO WIDE. "In my address I pointed out the mistake of supposing that ' all ' English Cjoods were of high quality, or better than New Zealand goods,'! whereas in many instances the goods made in New Zealand are 'superior to those imported from England. The reporter's only error was in making the generalisation a little too wide." The visitor also wrote to. the British Trade Commissioner's office in Wellington. The assistant-commissioner, Mr C. Muutz replied that inquiries were being made concerning the origin of the socks, but so far it had not been possible to ascertain the name of the manufacturer, or even of the importer. Samples of two kinds which appeared to be most obviously falsely branded had been obtained, and the assistant-commissioner expected to be able in due course to trace the manufacturer. He would then report,-,to the Department of Overseas Trade in London and ask that the necessary action should be taken. ~