"MADE IN GERMANY"

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2955, 19 December 1916, Page 5

"MADE IN GERMANY"

AN ANGRY CHRISTMAS SHOPPER, "I bought this toy in a Wellington shop this afternoon, and I find that it was made in. Germany," said an angry, purchaser to la reporter yesterday.' "Why doesn't the Government stop that sort of thing?" The toy, a small mechanical boat, was marked "Made in Germany," for all to see. But this brand, m good English lettering, was really a guarantee that the article had not come from Germany during the war period. In the course of inquiries on the subject the roporter gathered that there are still some German-made toys on the Wellington market. They represent a very small proportion indeed of the mass of. good things waiting the attention of the young people, andthere, is no reason to believe that their presence is to be attributed to illicit! trade. Some of tho goods are old! stock, bought before the war; other goods of German origiu have continued' to arrive from London even during the present year, owing to-the fact that London warehouses contained enormous supplies, bought and paid for when the war began. Tho British trader, and not the German, would suffer the loss if the salo of these articles were prohibited. Shopkeepers report that the range of British toys and fancy goods on sale at this Christmas season is much: wider than it was a year ago. The British manufacturers, supported J>j£ tho Imperial Board of Trade, are malc- ' rag a determined bid for the position once occupied by the Germans in the toy market, and despite tho utilisation of'much of their plant for the production of munitions, they are making a very good show. Japanese toys andl fancy goods are' largely represented in the Wellington shops also. It appears that France has little energy to spare for competing for such trade at the present time..