BAR TO PROGRESS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26904, 16 October 1948, Page 10

BAR TO PROGRESS

EFFECT OF CEILING PRICES RESTRICTIONS ON TRADE Special to the Daily Times NAPIER, Oct. 14. Every endeavour had been made to remove any bar to improvement in the manufacture of clothing goods, said Mr J. J. Delahunt, in\his presidential address to the annual conference of garment manufacturers at Napier. A difficulty which was most repressive was the continuation by the price control authorities: of the imposition of ceilings which placed a bar on the amount of work and trimmings, in terms' of money, that could be put into the construction Of a garment. , , . “Such ceilings not only tend to ‘type’ our manufacture, but also preclude us from offering our products in a complete price range to satisfy individual consumer requirements and react most detrimentally in the supply of garments for the larger fittings. ’ Iffr Delahunt said. “Notwithstanding its dubious advantages, which, in the main are only illusory, the system is impracticable in operation, and in the interests of better manufacture, styling ancl durability of garments, I sin- * cerely recommend that these ceiling regulations be revoked.” During the year, he said, the clothing. supply - position had shown a marked improvement, and in the majority of lines suppl., had met demand to a point where consumers were afforded selective purchasing Shortage of the requisite basic cloths and yarns and the unwillingness of labour to engage in certain phases or production were factors which pre eluded a fuller supply of a compara tively smaller number of clothing items. ", . . The speaker urged manufacturers to be most painstaking in preserving this upward trend, and as conditions permitted, to concentrate on bringing the supply of all items up to the. level of consumer requirements. To employees in- the industry he ’ appealed for a greater concentrgtion on effort. The conditions, and privileges they enjoyed to-day were wholly dependent upon the earnings of the industry, and could not be maintained if-full and productive hours were not worked. The real aid to purchasing power tvas to increase, by existing staffs, the Volume of production so that more goods at lower costs became available to the public. “ I am not convinced the maximum effort is being made and would appeal to our employees to'give of their very best to expand prdduction to achieve this purpose, ’ IhV speaker added. ® In concluding, he said that if a more positive approach to work and a deeper understanding of the responsibility of one to another were evidenced in all walks of life throughout New Zealand, the vast majority of the difficulties and shortages so apparent to-day would be non-existent. It was dnly by this unity of purpose and concentrated effort that stan- ‘ darcls could be preserved.