DEARER BOOTS.

Waipukurau Press, Issue 7, 16 January 1906, Page 2

DEARER BOOTS.

—o — The public must look forward to a rise in the price of boots. . Owing to the unprecedented scarcity and consequent deariiess of leather, the incorporated federated associations of boot and shot manufacturers of Great Britain and Ireland, representing upwards of 450 of the largest manufacturers in the United Kingdom, have given notice to the trade that it is absolutely imperative that the selling prices of boots and shoes should be raised. Some manufacturers five months ago notified an increase in their price-list, predicting that the small advance made would probably prove inadequate to cover the increased cost of production. Since that date we learn that leather has increased in price at a still more rapid rate ; and this is not likely to prove to be any temporary corner or boom. Disease ond drought in Australia, South Africa, South America, and India have created a universal scarcity in raw hides and skins. Accompanying this, fresh demands for leather have sprung up in many directions. The comsumption caused by the wars in South Africa aud Manchuria has had to be made good ; the coverings of motor cars, motor clothing, the fittings of tramway cars, and the prevalent fashion in ladies’ reticules have all helped to use up leather that would formerly have been in the market for the purposes of the boot trade. So we in New Zealand will be compelled to pay more for our boots because of the trouble between Russia and Japan, and the popularity of motoring —to say nothing of the fashions in ladies’ reticules. The prospect is a depressing one,, and the anxious housewife, with a view to bargains, will do well to note the warning of the boot and shoe manufacturers of Great Britain and Ireland, “ that the only way in which boots and shoes can be supplied at old prices is by reducing the quality by the use of inferior and adulterated leather.” —New Zealand Times.