60 TONS OF CRAYONS

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30110, 19 April 1963, Page 10

60 TONS OF CRAYONS

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, April 18. Sixty tons of crayons may sound a lot, about six milliori crayons, in fact—but that is the annual output of the crayon department of the Disabled Servicemen’s Reestablishment League in Parnell. About half the output of the factory goes to schools—--2.5 million through the Education Department and 500,000 supplied direct from the factory. The remainder are distributed through wholesalers, about 500.000 are sold in the Pacific islands About 10 tons of wax. 15 tons of cosmetic talcum powder, as well as pigment dyes and other ingredients go into making the crayons The wax. a petroleum product, is imported from the United States.

The cosmetic talcum powder a refined french chalk, is produced in the South Island. Large quantities of pigment dyes in powder form, come from England and Western Germany Sixteen disabled servicemen. war pensioners and wai widows work in the crayon factory. A number of these are part-time workers. In addition to colouring crayons, a wide range of commercial crayons are made for specialised purposes such as rubbermarking. glass-marking, and timber-marking. A sample shipment recently went to Australia, and there are high hopes of developing a substantial market there.