RUSH BUYING CAUSES BRIEF TYRE SHORTAGE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 85, 21 August 1950, Page 4

RUSH BUYING CAUSES BRIEF TYRE SHORTAGE

A temporary shortage of tyres has been caused in Bay of Plenty centres during the past - few days by indiscriminate buying of some people who have panicked over the possibility of a shortage due to the war. Although dealers insist there is no likelihood of any such shortage'it has been of little use and it will probably take a week or two before the position returns to normal., 1 The same shortage has been created in other parts of the country, a Whakatane dealer told the Beacon. It started at Auckland and gradually spread to Whakatane, -.where tyres were especially scarce last week. The “war scare” probably had something to do with it, .he agreed, but he thought the main reason was the expected rise in the price of rubber. This had been brought about by the Russians, who had started buying huge quantities in the last few weeks. A year ago rubber was selling at Singapore at

lOd a potmd but rose to Is 4d last April. In the last month it had risen to 2s 6d and was still rising. In Waikato Quota Supplies of tyres for Whakata-ne come from the Waikato area and the quota for that district and the Bay . of Plenty has been found to be inadequate. Despite this dealers have . been able to satify the demand and they still expect to do so. Truck tyres, which have been hard to get since the war, are expected to improve slightly. Most of New Zealand’s supplies of rubber come from the Malayan plantations. A bit tridkles through from Ceylon and New Guinea but

it is all on the open market. Syn- . thetic rubber factories operated by American interests have . increased their production in. the .last - few months and they are helping to satisfy the normal demand. * The quality of synthetic rubber has been improving steadily and to- " day it is considered to be as good and, in some respects, much better than the natural material. It has a better wearing property and can take more knocking round, while it has proved ideal for some water resistant clothing. However, it has one disadvantage. It has a poor ad-

hesian property and in tyres will lift from the canvas often long before the rubber itself is worn. Chemists have been trying to overcome this failing. Some'of the tyres sold at Whakatane have been made of the synthetic material and reports have been generally favourable. The position, is* expected to return* to normal next week and by then fairly good supplies should be available.