JAPANESE GOODS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 412, 22 December 1932, Page 4

JAPANESE GOODS

The statement made by the Minister of Finance (Hon. W. Downie Stewart) regarding the abnormal influx of cheap Japanese goods into the Dominion will draw attention to a very urgent matter. One of the features of the Christmas season about j which very little has been said, : is the swamping of the market by cheap J apanese articles of all descriptions. In a letter. to a southern contemporary this ! week, a correspondent stated | that at a large children's Christ- | mas function where gifts were ! distributed, he had found that j practically 90 per cent. had been j made in Japan or some other jforeign country. This is only 1 one averme, however, of this | competition. It is to be found in ! all departments of the drapery | trade and in very many others | where it is least suspected. This competition has a most serious ! effect upon British industry for ; it is condueted under conditions I which make competitive prices impossible. Japan particularly | has specialised in the gospel of cheapness and it is one which, quite naturally, makes a very strong appeal at times like the I present. The cheapness of labour , and the lower standard of living I prevailing in Japan are the j great factors which enable that country to permeate the world's , markets with cheap goods of ini ferior ciuality. Fortunately for ! the well being of the people, I they are not factors which can be employed by British countries. It is regrettable, as Mr. Stewart pointed out, that this , matter did not receive attention at the recent Ottawa Conference, for it is only by united Imperial action that it can be efi fectively combatted. Nevertheless it is possible for New Zea- ; land to do something itself to ! prevent this trade invasion, and j in the interests of British trade ; and British workmen, it cannot j be done too quicldy. I i