SERIOUS SHORTAGE OF PAPER

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25085, 17 January 1947, Page 6

SERIOUS SHORTAGE OF PAPER

LIMITED ALLOCATIONS AVAILABLE IMPORTS FROM CANADA (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Jan. 18. A serious shortage in the supply of paper for the printing industry, the production or periodicals, the manufacture of stationery, and other commercial uses, will be experienced this year. Allocations by Canadian mills, which are still the principal source of supply for export to New Zealand, in 1947, and a small and uncertain export quota allowed by the United Kingdom Board of Trade, represent, according to authoritative estimates, not more than two-thirds of New Zealand’s. requirements. This survey does not refer to newsprint, the supply of which has already been restricted by Canadian mills to a precise tonnage. Consumption by newspapers is being kept within that limit by the continuation of a voluntary rationing plan which was introduced in 1940.

Supplies of all other kinds of printing papers will now be so restricted that every commercial activity will be confronted with the necessity for rigorous economy. In 1945, importations of printing papers amounted to only 70 per cent, of the quantity* imported in 1938.

The latest statistics Show that during the first nine months of 1946, .imports were slightly less than in the corresponding period of 1945. It is unlikely that the total for 1946 will be equal to that for the previous year. Prospects for 1947 are that supplies will be at best equal to deliveries in 1946. Stocks held in the country by merchants, manufacturers, and printers, pre.low because of their depletion during the war period, so that the total available supply will not be sufficient to satisfy the demands which have been greatly increased by the growth of population and the expansion of industrial and commercial activities. The situation will be examined within the next few weeks by representatives of the interests immediately concerned, in consultation with the Department of Industries and Commerce, which is fully informed about the position.’