NEW ZEALAND BOOTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 67, 6 August 1912, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND BOOTS.

AND IMPORTED. SUGGESTED ADOPTION' OF TIIE " UNION LABEL/"' Christclmrcb, August 2. The question, of the imported 'boot versus the Dominion-manufactured article continues to rage. Its latest manifestation ia an exhibition by the secretary of the Bootmakers' Federation of an imported iboot, alleged to have been sold as ''real box calf" for one guinea, but really made partly of chrome leather (a cheap product) and partly of brown paper. The 'boot was dilapidated, and big pieces of (brown paper were easily torn from it. The inner soles were of cardboard. It is estimated that such a boot could : be made in New Zealand for from os to 7s (id, and leave a profit for the wholesaler nnd the retailer. The other side of the question was | presented when a local retailer produced | a "hand-sewn welted boot," said to have j been made in the Dominion, tout which had . fallen apart in less than three months after it was purchased. It had cost 21s, and though only worn on an average of not more than twice a week, the sole of one of the boots had come away almost entirely from its upper. The 'boots were worth not more than 12s. Naturally the purchaser who usually purchased English-made footwear was far from being impressed with the sample of the New Zealand manufactured article he purchased. Referring to the last mentioned case, the secretary of the Bootmakers' Federation, Mr. 0. R. Wliiting. stated that there are no hand-sewn welted boots made by New Zealand firms: they must have (been made by a small repairer in the old method of seat work—that is, wcfrk made on the knee. If the boots were made 'by a New Zealand manufacturer they were not hand-sewn welted boots, 'but would be stitched by machinery. It was exceptional for , the stitch of machine-sewn boots to give away, but the boots referred to might have 'been the exception to the rule. In any case, the boots alleged to have been made in New Zealand contained solid leather, and did not consist of the rubbish that was contained in the Englishmanufactured boots first referred to. For every boot like the alleged Domin-ion-imade one that could be produced, he could produce from ten to twenty fo-reign-made like the one he had produced, which depended also on the retailer. 'He knew for a positive fact that retailers frequently sold imported goods as Do-

minion-made, because, 'by doing so, they made from 3s 6d to 7s Cd morn profit. He instanced the case of a lady who asked hiim to recommend her to a bootmaker who could supply her with good New Zealand-made boots. He gave her J the name of one of the largest hoot firms in the city, and she purchased a pair of allegedly New Zealand-made boots and brought -them to him. He found that they were English-made. When he made representation to the retailer, the latter asked him if he could he Warned when lie could make from 5s to 7s M more toy selling the imported article? Asked what steps were contemplated in order to protect purchasers of [boots, Mr. Whiting Sa.id" thsit" One' suggestion wis tfiat foreign manufacturers should be called on to specify the material of which the boots they sent to the Dominion consisted. Another suggestion put forward to prevent inferior New Zealandmanufactured boots being forced on the pulblic was that the State should become a manufacturer or else open boot depots where boots made to specifications laiid down by the State would be sold. He had (been advocating for a number of years that boots made in the Dominion should be branded "Made in New Zealand," but so far he had been unable to secure legislation in that direction. At j present the Federation was considering the advisability of providing for a union ticket to be attached to boots made in New Zealand, and was endeavoring to induce manufacturers to adopt the system of federating, in turn undertaking to endeavor to induce the public to purchase ' only boots having the union ticket or label. The Federation's trouble in this matter was to induce manufacturers to brand all their goods. A number of manufacturers were willing to fall in with the Federation's idea, and he anticipated that the Federation would be successful in its efforts to get .the iinion label principle adopted.