IMPORT BY AIR

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31098, 29 June 1966, Page 18

IMPORT BY AIR

Ornaments For Shoes The Christchurch footwear manufacturer, Duckworth Turner and Company, Ltd., has switched to importing by air some materials, such as ornaments for shoes, because of the British seamen’s strike, said the firm’s factory manager (Mr A. R. Duckworth) yesterday. The air-freighting of ornaments had forced his company to take a loss. It just about doubled the price of the ornaments.

If the seamen’s strike got worse, his company could not take a loss by air-freighting indefinitely, he said. He did not think the difficulties with supplies were appreciated. He said that leather manufacturers were sitting on the fence hoping something would happen. “There is a bit of a gap developing in their raw material stocks. That is what they are concerned with.” The managing-director of the women’s fashion goods firm, W. Selby and Company (Mr B. Zeff), said that his firm depended on 70 per cent of its raw material coming from Britain.

“It is sitting on the docks in London and has been for the last four weeks,” said Mr Zeff. “We have found older stuff stocked from the time the strike started, but not very much.

“The alternative is to persuade the Government to give us licences to buy in Australia. We have spent our licences on United Kingdom materials, so we have not got any licences left,” he said.