POTATO SUPPLY INADEQUATE

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23715, 13 August 1942, Page 4

POTATO SUPPLY INADEQUATE

“CONSUMPTION MUST BE CURTAILED ”

ESSENTIAL SERVICES TO SHARE WITH FORCES

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, August 12 "The survey of potato stocks throughout the Dominion has revealed that the supply is wholly inadequate to meet the demands of the armed forces and the civil population during the next three months, and accordingly drastic measures to curtail consumption are necesSS Making this announcement, the Minister of Supply, (the Hon. D.-G. Sullivan) said that the present position had developed partly as a result of the comparative failure of North Island crops in the early part of the year in the Rangitikei and West Coast districts. “This necessitated drawing on . the South Island crop some six weeks to two months earlier than usual," _he added. "On top of this the requirements of the armed forces became greater than anticipated. When this became apparent, efforts were made to purchase potatoes from various other countries, but conditions everywhere were found to be similar to those in New Zealand. Australia, for instance, has already approached New Zealand with a view to obtaining supplies from this Dominion to overcome the complete shortage of supplies in the Commonwealth.”

The Minister said he could assure the publjc that no effort would be spared to procure supplies from overseas, but unfortunately even if a source of sup-; ply could be found, the Government could not for obvious reasons take such quantities into its calculations until shipments had actually been landed in New Zealand.

The only courge, therefore, open to meet the situation was to apportion our available supplies as equitably as possible between the armed forces and such essential services as public and private hospitals, old people's homes, etc. Under this arrangement the ration to the armed forces would have to be cut very drastically, as it was only by that .means that limited supplies could' be made available to the civilian services mentioned.

WJith a view to avoiding a recurrence of the present position next year, the Government was planning for increased production in 1943, and this necessitated the diversion of a substantial quantity of table potatoes to seed purposes, further accentuating the problem. The Minister urged the public to utilise any table potatoes for home, garden crops and also to economise by cooking potatoes in their jackets.