RUBBER SUPPLIES

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23714, 12 August 1942, Page 4

RUBBER SUPPLIES

$ IMPORTERS’ STATEMENT CRITICISED (0.R.) GREYMOUTH, August 11. During his West Coast tour, the Hon R Semple. Minister of Railways and Transport, has forcibly emphasised the need for the conservation of rubber supplies, and m an interview he condemned the recent statement by the Bureau of Importers in Auckland which he said, blamed the rubber shortage on the refusal by the Minister of Customs (the Hon. Walter Nash) to grant import licences in 1939 and early in 1940. Mr Semple took the “Grey River Argus" to task for publishing the statement by the Bureau of Importers. He said that the bureau had done everything in its power to oppose the import restrictions. These restrictions had been introduced to save sterling funds and to prevent the dumping of foreign goods, which made impossible the development of New Zealand industries. The Government had done so because it wanted to make New Zealand independent, said the Minister. The Bureau of Importers' had fought these restrictions, saying that they meant the ruination of the country. Now the bureau had passed a resolution condemning Mr Nash and accusing him of being responsible for the rubber shortage. Never was there a more infamous falsehood against a man who was fighting to his utmost for his country. The rubber shortage was not a matter that could be laid at the door of any Minister, for every country was in the same jam, said Mr Semple. , . . . The bureau would be rendering greater service to the nation if it offered some constructive advice at this critical hour, instead of squealing and looking for a scapegoat,” said Mr Semple. The position, he added, was serious, and without an efficient system of transport the nation would go back instead of forward. Transport was vital in war time, and no nation had any hope If it did not possess wheels and wings. Rubber was needed for aeroplanes as well as for land transport. “In a few weeks I have reduced the petrol consumption of the Dominion by half, with a corresponding reduction in the use of rubber, and 1 am going to knock it down further in the next three weeks,” said Mr Semple.