A £250 CHALLENGE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 138, 6 March 1920, Page 7

A £250 CHALLENGE

"WE ARE NOT PROFITEERING," SAYS A BOOT MANUFACTURER

MR. C. J, WARD INTERVIEWED

"There's nothing like leather." The public is'beginning to realise-that there is more in the old sawthan anyone ever imagined. Receui events have given a new twist .to the leather problem, on which depends the footwear, of the 'people. Rightly or .wrongly, "there have been allegations and recriminations as to profiteering, etc.; and a statement .that..lias .liiirt' .the boot manufacturers .sorely is that Australian tanners could buy hide in . New' Zealand, ship. it to Australia, tan it there, make it up into boots and shoes for exportation to New Zealand, and then undersell the New Zealand- article. ■ -That allegation was rnado to the Prime: Minister -in Auckland, and it is resented bv boot manufacturers who .claim to have fought hard to keep down the: price -of footwear:. ■ •Mr.C.J. Ward,'a Wellington manu-. factnrer,- said:".to a Dominion reporter yesterday: • '-'This: is • a very serious m after." 'We can't ■. afford to . sit-down under it. Here are. the farmers taking what was stated in Auckland, as gos.pel, and advising that we (the boot manufacturers) should be pensioned off, as they could get cheaper'.and better boote from Australia. They simply don't know what they riro talking abput. ' Here 'is my cheque for ,£250. lam offering it to the person' that can prove that Australian boots of equal quality can be sold liro fitably at a price lower than ours. Anyone who accepts the challenge may put Up his cheque. If he succeeds in proving his case I forfeit my cheque to the returned soldiers' .fund; if he fails, his : money must go : to the fund instead. X. suggest Sir.,, James Wilson as the, umpire., -As-the charge w : as repeated by Mr. Newman.; I ap. sendinir Sir. Newman a",letter to , the- above effect, challenging him to prove, his assertion. I don't like to do these things, but when a member of Parliament takes up the cry, and' gives it forth that ;w'e are shamelessly profiteering something has to' be done. A lot of "nonsense is being talked.,. . During 'iny ' rccent Ivisit to America I found out the state (if the English market as well ;as if. I had gono Home.- There.is not -a--ghost of. a chance of getting any boots from-that quarter, and, as. for Australia—well, . the . last trade journal' reflects an agitation to prevent any heavy hides oriole leather from being exported at all."

Price'of Men's Boots. .'"1 can't net any sole leather to-day. A big tannine company of- Christchurch. is so incensed at what has been saitl recently that, it proposes to withhold urgently-needed stocks from the market. So far ns ■. I know, boots have . not increased in price 6ince the recent hide sales, but they must go up in' time. Since the first hide sale in Auckland the price of chrome leather, used for the . uppers of men's boots,' has increased 1s a foot. That means an- increase of from 3s. 2d: to 3s. 4d. * pair., fcole leather has increased by Is. 7d. per lb., which .'mean9. an increase of not less than 4s. a pair—here's .an increnso in leather alone of 7s. "Id. a pair on mens 'boots.. On top 'of; that'liiis to be placed the retailer's profit, and the distributing co.st—say, 50 per cent.; which Will make the rise lis. a pair on the price of ' leather now ruling in the nortU,.." Mr. .Ward asserted that the lot of tue small tanner was not a bright ono "He has to face - a ten months' rise in ono hit," sai'd- Mr'. Ward, "pay 'l'or his hides within seven days, (and then wait for four months until the hides are saleable as leather. The big tanneries are all-Tight,-but the .extra, XISOO or so per weok- to r be -found by tho small tanner will be a verv severe strain, on his finances."-

Where Do Tanners' Purchases Go? .Mr. Ward said. that the inference .people..generally made was that when buyers representing/'New' Zealand tan:.ners.bought 'h'ide3 ; nt auction-' the' hides would -be turned 'ipt<?leather for themanufacture of boots in this country. That was the- accepted inference, but there was r.eally no bar to tho buyers oxporting such leather. But apart from the hides sold at auction, tanners wero buying plenty of hides privately, to mimufacture .into- leather for export. .What. the Government should do was bv the export'of all-heavy hides and all leather, otherwise' we should find ourselves short, with "nothing coming in from overseas.

Shortage of Sole Leather. "I liavo no sole leather now, and can't get any. but I can keep going on uppers for some time yet, and pay wages. Stocks are short, If boots', can be bought cheaper in Australia, how is it that all the., buyers .from the farmers' co-operative companies corao to- us for boots ?. ■ Only the other, day «i buyer .came in and . almost went on .his knees'to me to supply him with a line of men's boots. I've never seon such a thing in my life befoi*. I have completed my contract with the Board of Trade to manufacture 2000 pairs of standardised ■boots, and they will all sell within a fortnight." .... -