NEW ZEALAND-MADE WOOLLEN GOODS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 281, 23 August 1919, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND-MADE WOOLLEN GOODS

WHY SUCH HIGH PRICES'? Sir,—Ws are always learning, and the information vouchsafed by the chairman of a woollen factory that a pound of scoured_ wool ready for spinning now costs his company te. i 9 of sonic value to newspaper scribes, 1

110 further tells us that buttons and, trimmings, presumably for men's and boys' clothing, have largely increased in price, but I have observed that your correspondents have been confining themselves chiefly to tho cost of manufacture and selling prico of cloth, woven in our local factories, which he naively remarks he is not permitted to divulge. People will probably draw their own conclusions from his reticence, but as.it is bow generally understood that a pound of scoured wool costing 4s. can be converted into a yard of cloth, his silence does not mattor much. Tho soft soap and dye used in the cost of manufacture will not greatly increase the prico per .yard, and tho only other unknown quantities aro tho cost of labour and trado expenses, and the company's selling pricc. Wo know to our sorrow that tho prico per yard in drapers' shops for woman's wear, or I should say an a draper's 6hop, is 455., without either buttons or trimming: but I am not foolish enough to assert that the wide margin in cost between 4s, and 455. per yard is all due to the exactions of the woollen company. Tho consumer is naturally interested about the high cost of living, and so much has been written about exploitation by the farmer and the ol everything he produces, that it is time the Board of Trado told us something about tho cost of tho raiment we wear, as well as the food wo eat. It is just as easy to fix the price of everything manufactured within the Dominion ana (o determine a fair percentage to tho tradesman for distributing every article sold over the counter as to fix by-Qrdor-in-Council the price of wool and wheat and butter and meat.

Wo are told about tho valuable reports by the Hoard of Trade which will 'be presented to Parliament. These arc of little value rioiv, as overcharges made during the last year or two cannot be recovered by consumers, and if exploitation has been detected and recommendations made, the public will wonder why they have not-.been given effect to by Order-in-Council by thosis in authority over the board. The public have been anxiously awaiting the return of our leaders in the hope that they will mako rigid and original inquiry and correct some of the glaring errors of omission and commission which have occurred during their absence. The 6elling prico of nearly all the shares of our manufacturing companies have lnrgely increased, .during the war, and those Hinder quad-Government .control have benefited most of all.. That alone unfolds a tale.—l am, etc., ' . . AN EXPLOITED FARMER. [Tho Board of Trade appears to.be.con. ducting an investigation at the present t.imo into some of the matters raised by our correspondent. !