DRAPERS RELIEVED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26632, 1 December 1947, Page 4

DRAPERS RELIEVED

GREAT SAVING OF LABOUR •‘Right through New Zealand there will be a sigh of relief among retailers that the necessity for clothing coupons has passed,” a prominent Dunedin draper told the Daily Times when asked to comment on the abolition of clothing rationing. “It will save a large amount of clerical work at a time when office labour is difficult to obtain. The counting of thousands of coupons, and the keeping of departmental records constituted a big task.”

For the past 12 months coupons had not been necessary, he said, but it was felt by retailers that it would have been wrong to seek goods from Britain without observing 'some form of rationing. New Zealand required a wide variety of goods from Britain that were in short supply and the trade felt it desirable. to retain coupons for that reason alone. Now that the Government had abolished rationing of its own volition retailers welcomed the move whole-heartedly. “It is possible that this might not be the end of clothing rationing,” he stated. “ I understand that the Government intends to give a few months’ trial to the unrationed- purchase of clothing, and if it is not successful it will re-introduce coupons. I have been told that printed sheets of coupons are ready and will be issued for insertion in ration books if the

scheme is not a success.” It was most unlikely, he said, that the issue of coupons would be necessary as drapers had learned to ration most effectively goods in short supply. Coupons were necessary at first, he said, as they stopped people with money from buying up quantities of scarce goods. Drapers now knew how to ration these goods and deal fairly with all customers. Coupons had been somewhat irksome to the public, he said, but recently there were few people who had insufficient coupons for their needs or for the goods available. Moreover, there had been a growing laxity on both sides of the counter, and recently rationing had not been taken very seriously.