SAILY WORKER
3.
5
21 JAN 1950
Page Three's election canvass
TORY FLAPS HIS SHIRTS IN
MANCHESTER
From JACK OWEN
HEAP shirts from Hongkong will fly from the masthead of the Tory candidate for the Gorton Division of Manchester, Mr. James Watts, Jnr., who is partner in the huge merchandis- ing of Messrs. S. and J. Watts.
His firm have bought from a London importing house 1,000 dozen shirts at a price of 26s. 6d. per dozen for boys' sizes, and 33s. 6d. per dozen for men's sizes.
"I am determined to get these things chucked out of the country," Mr. Watts is reported as saying. But in the mean- time retailers are anxious to get hold of them because of the shortage of shirts in this country.
When the news of the import of these shirts hit the country it was thought at first that they were Japanese getting in at the back door.
the
But an investigation by Manchester Chamber of Commerce found that they were of Hongkong origin.
These regulations allow import of goods if they contain at least 25 per cent of material or labour of imperial origin.
Mr. Watts. whose firm is re- ported as making a profit of 5s, ld per dozen on the men's shirts and 4s. Id. per dozen on the boys' shirts, is to raise the matter in his election material.
LOW WAGES
But he is silent and haughty as far as the Communists are con. cerned-and "you can write ir your paper that I won't have any thing to say or to do in any way with a Communist paper or organisation." he told me.
But he will have to answer his Communist opponent Mr. Syc Abbott, who asked "It is surely pertinent to inquire, if these shirts stink in the nostrils of Mr. Watts why did his firm buy them.
44
These prices surely show up the rottenness of the Tory imperialist policy which keeps wages so low in Hongkong that shirts can be pro- duced at such a price."
Hongkong enters the fray
THE
Hongkong Government office stated last night: Most shirts show an Empire content of 60 per cent.
Under the existing regulations it would be quite impossible for Japanese shirts to be dispatched to this country from Hongkong under claim to imperial preference."
They added that the shirts were made locally in Hongkong from yarn spun in the Empire, largely from England.
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