Sniff, Sniff!

NZ Truth, Issue 1153, 5 January 1928, Page 4

Sniff, Sniff!

ANY country which, receives at this time of the year something approaching £100,000 in payment for numerous shipments of cheap Christmas toys and fancy, goods may reasonably be expected to regard it as a handsome Yuletide present. Germany, therefore, having been presented with this sum by the commercial interests of New Zealand might be excused if, in the excess of her emotion, she cabled to the Coates Government, ' ' Herzlichsten Gluuckwunsche Zum "Weihnachtsseste ! " Translated into good old English it means, "The very heartiest greetings for the Christmas festival. After all, Germany more than any country has reason to feel gratified that the Government of New Zealand sees fit to facilitate the dumping of her cheaply manufactured goods into the Dominion. Within the past lew weeks the special envoy of the British Government, L.C.M.S. Amery has appealed to the people of the Dominion as well as to the Government itself to trade within the Empire and to buy the British manufactured article.

The answer to L.C.M.S. Amery, in fact the answer to the appeals that have gone forth from time to time by British statesmen, can be found in every big emporium or shop of any size in the cities and towns of New Zealand.

The bulk of the Christmas toys and fancy goods that became the playthings of young New Zealanders bore the brand "Made in Germany." Of the balance a small percentage were of British manufacture, and the rest mostly came from U.S.A.

That is in one particular line of goods alone. How many thousands of pounds worth of other cheaply manufactured materials and articles have been dumped into the Dominion from Germany ? The figures would undoubtedly be startling.

Take, for example, the quantity and value of the German timepieces imported last year. The number was 77,789, and the value in the country from which they were exported £28,422. Christmas 1927 must at anyrate. drive home to the people of New Zealand the extent to which tho Government of the day has gone not only to strangle home industries, but to prove conclusively that despite all the speeches and promises, no sincere attempt has been made to patronize British Empire goods. As usual charity begins anywhere but at home.