THE COST OF LIVING

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 43, 15 November 1920, Page 4

THE COST OF LIVING

BOARD OP TRADE STANDARDISED BOOTS.

Owing to the recent reductions in the. prices of leafier, there is now consider-! able activity in connection with th» • manufacture and sale of New Zealand Government Board of Trade standard-; ised boots, and it is believed—giving due! consideration to quality and jother rele-' vont ciroumstances—that the prices re-' cently fixed by the board'make.the stan-' dardised boots the cheapest in the Em-' pire, The standardised boots manufactured and sold in accordance with the government 6pecificatiou9 and regulations are a guaranteed bargain for tbo buyer.

Several applications for authority to manufacture on tne board's specifications have been considered, and licenses have now been granted to most of the leading boot manufacturers in Wellington. The' general public are, however, warned by tho board that ihe fact of a boot being marked "standardised," is not a guarau- * tee that it complies with' tho board's regulations. Buyers should toko particular note of the marking of the hoots, 60 as to soonro.the benefit of the Government's guarantee.. At the present time, there are on the market certain bootn marked "standardised" and purporting' to be the samo ais .the Board of Trade : standardised hoots, whereas they do not comply with tho board's regulations. : Moreover, the prices range up to 475. 6d. j per pair, and are, in general, considerably higher than the retail prices fixed by the Government.

In connection with the Board of Trado. standardised boots, buyers have two v guarantees—first, that the prices fixed » by the board allow of only a,reasonable profit.to the makers and vendors, and, • eccond, that the quality of tho boot is i ouito satisfactory. The public ehould 6eo; that each boot iB distinctly branded "New Zealand Board of Trade." In order to protect the public against fraud in connection with these boots the regu-' lations issued provTSe as follow:—"Every person commits an offence against these regulations, and shall be liable under the War Regulations Act, 1914, accordingly, who—Makes any falsa representa-. tion or pretence calculated or intended to cause any person or the public to believe, contrary to the fact, that any boots have been manufactured under tho license of the Board of Trado in pursuance' of these' regulations, or that they bear the Board of Trade's mark, or that they have been manufactured in accordance with the aforesaid spiyjlications or samples of the Board of '?tMe, or that, they are boots of any particular class for which specifications have been so approved." ::