REDUCTION LIKELY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 307, 28 December 1944, Page 6

REDUCTION LIKELY

IMPORTS OF HARDWARE

SUPPLIES FROM LEND-LEASE

A reduction in the quantity of hardware imported into the Dominion under lend-lease for use by farmers is considered likely by some people who are in close touch with the position. The general belief is that since the withdrawal of .large numbers of the United States forces from New Zealand there is not the same urgency for production of foodstuffs for their immediate use. It is stated in one well-informed quarter that the United States authorities in charge of lend-lease supplies to the Dominion have declined an application from the New Zealand Government for additional stocks of certain hardware required for farming purposes. From this source it is said that in refusing the order the authorities added a reminder that the Dominion was now feeding few United States personnel. Inquiries made to-day indicated that present hardware stocks were sufficient for normal requirements. A steady demand for fencing wire was being met from stocks of barbed wire whiqh were now being released by the army from reserves which were commandeered when Japan entered the war. It is considered that there is sufficient wire for some time, as little new land is being brought into production, owing chiefly to the difficulty in obtaining labour. ~',.« • One merchant pointed out that few hardware lines were being imported from England, most of the.present stocks in the Dominion being obtained under lend-lease. Deliveries from the United States had been slow for a time, but of late consignments had been received more rG2u.l3.rlv The likelihood of a reduction of a cessation in hardware supplies under lend-lease had " been visualised for some time, the importer continued. On the formation of a pool ot importers all orders had been placed with the Government, which in turn obtained supplies from the United States Government. The American authorities had budgeted for the war ending by a certain time and releases of supplies to the Dominion would have been planned on a yearly basis. Some reduction might be possible. Another importer said he had been informed from a Wellington source that fewer supplies of lines required in connection with farm production would now be received from the United States for the reason stated. He believed that there would be a speed-up in releases from Britain, though it was expected that steel production might be slow for some time yet. ■