MARKETING OF GOODS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3802, 25 January 1927, Page 15

MARKETING OF GOODS.

MERCHANDISE MARKS. AUCKLAND, January 20. The suggestion that all exports should bear merchandise marks, a matter that has been frequently discussed by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, was touched upon by Mr L. B. Beale, British Trade Commissioner in New Zealand, in an address to the chamber to-day. “It is a question fraught with many difficulties,” said Mr Beale, “xt is time that anything which tends, as that would, to encourage honest dealing, should be encouraged, but the problem is how to apply it. The goods marketed are in two classes—produce and manufactured articles. The first is easier to deal with, but while you can label the carease in a shop New Zealand lamb, there is no label for the meat on the plate. Equally you may have a clear indication in a shop of Canadian flour, but you cannot tell the origin of the flour in' the loaf. I would like to know a good definition of what basis should be used for the marks. Take the case of a pair of stockings. They may contain New Zealand wool, American cotton, dye from Switzerland or Germany, and be finished in England. How would you mark that? I confess frankly I am at a loss to know.” — (Laughter.) Mr Beale added that it was difficult also to know whether the standard of marking should be_ on the basis of the laboui- or the material used, and in what proportion. The subject'-.'was referred to by Air Hudson in proposing a vote of thanks to Mr Beale for his address. The suggestion made by the chamber, he said;r- was that the manufacturers’ costs should be toe basis of marking. The tariff authorities had ruled otherwise, but the speaker was of the opinion that had the proposal been ''adopted all their difficulties would have disappeared.