SAVING PAPER

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 192, 15 August 1941, Page 8

SAVING PAPER

SUGGESTIONS MADE

GOVERNMENT PRINTING (Bj Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. "We could save paper by shutting down on free copies of Hansard unless people specially write for it," suggested Mr. Poison (National, Stratford) when the House of Representatives considered the printing office estimates to-day.

Discussing other methods of meeting the paper shortage, the member for Stratford said he had noticed that some members threw their Gazettes in the waste paper basket, while he had noticed in other places piles of Gazettes unopened. He knew of a committee investigating all descriptions of waste, but he did not know whether they considered what publications could be cut out.

Mr. Doidge (National, Tauranga) suggested that a big saving of hundreds of tons of paper could be effected by collecting old telephone directories, but he differed from Mr. Poison regarding Hansard, for which the demand exceeded the members' allocation.

Mr. Dickie (National, Patea) asked why the paper collection, which was well organised in the towns, could not be extended to country districts. Possibly the railways could transport waste paper to the mills free.

Mr. Sullivan, Minister of Supply, explained that while much waste paper went to two New Zealand mills a proportion had to be shipped to Australia, but it had to be stored up, owing to shipping shortage.

Mr. Harker (National, Waipawa) pointed out that while newspapers of commercial importance were curtailed the broadcasting journal was unaltered. The journal, he said, ought to be cut by half.

Mr. Webb, the Minister in Charge of the Printing Office, stated between 300 and 350 tons of waste paper came from the Government printer, and everything was sorted out for further use, including wrappers, for which £10 a , ton was received from Government Departments. Telephone directories were now published annually instead of twice a vear He was concerned over the working conditions in the printing office, which was badly overcrowded. Plans had been prepared for a new building to cost, including the finest plant south of the line, £600,000, but as the foundations required 816 tons of steel and the structure 3000 tons it had been decided not to proceed as the steel was needed for war purposes.