ORANGE SUPPLY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 76, 26 September 1941, Page 6

ORANGE SUPPLY

LIKELY TO BE SHORT

NEXT FEW WEEKS

LACK OF SHIPPING

The Government anticipates some difficulty in securing adequate supplies of oranges for the local market during the next few weeks.

"Up to the present time," said the Minister of Marketing (Mr. Barclay) today, "Cook Island oranges, which had nearly all been marketed in the North Island, have been coming forward in much improved condition and in quantities sufficient to enable normal supplies to be maintained. Now, however, the season for Island oranges is over, and until March next the New Zealand market will be entirely dependent upon Australian supplies. This reliance upon Australian oranges to meet the Dominion's requirements is accompanied by certain inevitable disadvantages. In the first place, ■ the present available means of transport from Australia, due to the war situation, is more unfavourable than in the past, and, secondly, the restriction of unloading points necessitates the transfer of fruit within the Dominion over long distances, with consequent difficulty in maintaining the condition of the fruit, and with higher distribution costs.

"Furthermore, the elimination of the Jamaican market for the past two seasons, again brought about, by war conditions, is a further obstacle in the way of securing adequate supplies, and all these factors combined make it unlikely that full supplies of oranges will be available to the public at all times and at all places in the Dominion during the next six weeks.

'The Internal Marketing Division will, however, as far as it is humanly possible, endeavour to ensure that available supplies are spread as equitably as possible throughout the Dominion."