PRICE OF CLOTHING.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16505, 5 August 1919, Page 3

PRICE OF CLOTHING.

STILL ON UPWARD TREND, NEW ZEALAND PRODUCTIONS. QUESTION OF- DEVELOPMENT. Tlie matter of prices of clothing was the subject of discussion by an Auckland business man yesterday. Ho said that people who looked forward to a collapse of the markets the moment the war was over have been .sadly disappointed. The prices of clothing of all kinds, hoots, hats, and oilier articles of wear, have increased over since the armistice was signed, and it is 'predicted that prices will rise still higher as a result of the Continental demand. Germany has been without woollen, cotton, and leather goods for the greater part of the war period, and will now be wanting everything. In London there is the same advance as Auckland buyers are experiencing, and sometimes even worse. A suit of clothes which would have cost £4 before tho war is now costing £lO. Boots worth 17s 6d before the war are priced at 455, and soft felt hats sold at 10s 6cl to 17s (id are now ticketed as 30s to 455. Women’s goods have similarly altered. Dress materials begin at 25s a yard, and soar to a level unknown before tho war. A blouse_which before the war would have cost 15s is now 425. Tho cheapest kind of ready-made coat and skirt in the large London departmental stores costs (it guineas, compared with 30s before the war. Cotton materials are 4s Cd a yard, being dearer than woollen in 1914. Auckland prices show an advance similar to those in England, though hardly in the same degree. A suit costing £4 before tho war would now cost about £7 in the same- material, and one at five guineas would cost about nine. Importers are puzzled to account for the extraordinary rise in England, many descriptions of doth costing three or four times the prewar rate, whereas local manufacture has about doubled, or possibly a little more. Tho whole position reflects tho splendid opportunity that has been so Jong neglected in developing the local manufacture, said the business man. Before the war probably 75 per cent, of the suitings used hero were imported, and yet the New Zealand manufacture is second to none. No country in the world, including England, can turn out rugs and blankets equal to those made in tlie various woollen mills throughout New Zealand. Representatives of local and Southern woollen mills stated yesterday, without hesitation, that shortage of labour is the greatest bar at tlie present time to . any development of tho trade. For years past tlie mills have not been working up to capacity. _ The , representative of a Wellington milling ’company stated that at present there arc no fewer than 21 looms at the mills lying idle for lack of operatives to work them; work in Southern mills was stated by another authority to have been similarly hampered, although not to the same degree. “The present position iu the woollen trade.” said another, “is entirely due to shortage of operatives. It is not a question of machinery; at our own mills wo have up-to-date, labour-saving machinery, but not enough hands to keep them working as they should work in order to relieve the situation. Factory managers are experiencing the samo difficulty.” Another point mentioned by those interviewed was the disappearance of the prejudice that once existed with regard to New Zealand-made goods. Unquestionably tho superior quality of these had brought them into welldeserved popularity. > “Our experience for some years past lias been that both wholesale and retail dealers, and the general public, prefer to buy New Zealand goods, instead of high-priced imported stuff. Practically the only people who still prefer imported material are tho high-class tailors, who want exclusive patterns for their customers. But I think fully 90 per cent of those in the ordinary trade are quite satisfied now to freely patronise local industry. The only difficulty is that the supply has, for so long, been utterly unequal to the demand.”