SHOES FOR NURSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25443, 26 January 1944, Page 4

SHOES FOR NURSES

DIRECT SUPPLY BY STATE PROTEST BY BOOT RETAILERS (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Jan. 25. The proposal by the Government to by-pass the retail trade in supplying shoes to civilian nurses has met with a strong protest from the Federation of Boot Retailers, according to statements made by trade authorities. The objections are said to have been submitted to the Minister of Supply, Mr D. G. Sullivan, who is reported to have replied that he intends to proceed with the scheme. A representative of the industry in Auckland stated that the Government was reported to have placed an order for shoes running into several thousand pairs with a city factory. According to the trade’s information, it was the Government’s plan to distribute shoes to the nurses through the State Shoe Fitting Service, a service conducted under the military organisation for the supply of shoes to women members of the armed forces. It was understood that all nurses in public and private hospitals were to be supplied in this way, and that probationer nurses would receive footwear at half the cost price, the balance presumably to be met from Government subsidy, and other nurses would pay the factory cost price.