WAR'S DEMANDS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 69, 21 March 1916, Page 11

WAR'S DEMANDS.

s' EFFECTS OX CEETAIX LIKES. It is but natural that a war on such a gigantic scale as the present one should greatly interfere with many articles of commerce. Reference has previous!/ been made to many articles affected, but some idea of the demand for footwear for soldiers may be gathered from th° fact that the Army Clothing Department in England up to the end of March. 1915. lad taken delivery of no less than 12,----000,000 pairs of boots. In addition, big orders yere placed with manufacturers in Northamptonshire and Leicestershire, for footwear for the armies of Russia, •s:r' Ji and Italy. -' nother very important effect of the; "war has been to put a stop to a great extent to the production of beet sugar, ffh's has naturally diverted the demand to cane sugar. The principal sources of additional supply of cane sugar are Java and Cuba. Since the latter country came under the control of the United States the production of cane sugar has increased enormously. In 1895, when the insurrection against Spain occurred, the crop of cane sugar in Cuba was only about 200,000 tons. Last season the output was 2.592.667 tons, and the present crop is expected to show an increase of 600,000 tons upon that total. In Java in 1900 the sugar crop -wsa only 700,000 tons, but has now reached 1,300,000 tons. The West Indian Crown colonies arc likewise benefiting by the increased Remand for cane sugar. In the nitrate of soda market the (feature of the past year was the enormous demand for this article for tbe manufacture of explosives.