WAGES & TRADE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 June 1938, Page 9

WAGES & TRADE

CRITICISM OF CLOTHING AWARD.

HANDICAPS IN MEETING COMPETITION. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, June 17. “The effect of the high wages granted by the Second Court of Arbitration in the Dominion clothing trades award will be to complicate still further the position of the industry so far as overseas competition is concerned,” said Mr F. N. Ambler, immediate pastpresident of the Auckland Manufacturers’ Association. Mr Ambler mentioned that in the shirt manufacturing section of the industry, with which he was intimately concerned, labour costs prior to the award that had now come into operation were practically double those ruling in England. The fact that the present tariff protection was only 20 per cent meant that the industry was exposed to the full rigours of English competition. . “Already most clothing factories are working on short time and reduced staffs and this latest development will put the position from bad to worse,” continued Mr Ambler. “Last year importations of shirts, collars, etc., .were sufficient to keep a factory employing 300 girls operating for 12 months. In making its decision the court commented on the fact that competition from overseas had to be disregarded by it as this was a matter for the Legislature to deal with. It is hoped the Government will note this, otherwise it may find itself with additional unemployed to support.”