SHIPMENT OF TOWELS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 193, 13 May 1944, Page 6

SHIPMENT OF TOWELS

Twenty Different Lines SUPPLY FROM AMERICA The acute shortage of all classes of towelling which has existed throughout New Zealand for some time past will be relieved in the near future by a shipment which has arrived from the United States of America. This shipment, which comprises over 1,000,000 towels, is part of a bulk order placed by the Ministry of Supply both in the United Kingdom and America. Distribution of the towelling will be made through the normal trade channels. This will be done by the wholesale firms, which will apportion it in the most equitable way possible to retailers. Wholesalers’ representatives are believed to be now making a survey with a view to ascertaining precisely the needs of each particular district. The towelling in the present shipment comprises 20 different lines, and it is expected that an official statement on the subject will be made soon.

TRADE NOT CONSULTED

Criticism of the Government’s bulk purchase of towelling was made in soft goods trade circles in Wellington yesterday. It was stated that for some months past the Government had, without indicating any grounds, consistently refused to allow traders licences to import tow els from England, though offers of English towels had been received by cablegram. The reasop for this refusal now seemed evident, the Government, unknown to traders, having’ made bulk purchases in the United States and England. This, it was stated, was apparently yet another case of the Government buying in bulk without consulting anyone in tne trade.