POTATO SUPPLIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 41, 17 August 1942, Page 3

POTATO SUPPLIES

AUSTRALIA SHORT

MINISTER'S VISIT

The potato problem in Australia was more^icutethan in New Zea- \ land and mere was not the remot- ] est chance of the Dominion obtaining- supplies of this commodity from the Commonwealth at the present time, said the Minister of ' Marketing and Agriculture (Mr. Barclay) on his return to Wellington today after an official visit to Australia. "It if, very difficult to see a potato in Sydney and Melbourne," said Mr. Barclay. ■ "Living at the hotels you very seldom see potatoes'on the table at all." •Mr. Barclay said that.the vegetable pfoblenv generally was much more acute in Australia, and the prices were higher than in the Dominion.- Apart from other considerations, the position had been aggravated by the drought last summer. . The bad summer had also affected stock, which did'not look in anything like the condition they did in New Zealand. However, a good spring was being experienced in the Commonwealth and the prospects for the coming summer were much brighter. * Mr. Barclay was struck by the higher food prices in Australia. He said that in addition to vegetables, the prices of meat", milk, and butter in Sydney and Melbourne were greater than in the Dominion. "Butter in Melbourne is Is 8d lb retail, compared with our Is 6d," said Mr: Barclay. The Minister spent a little over two weeks in Australia and met the meat, dairy, fruit, and wool boards and also the Federal Prime Minister (Mr. Curtin) and other Federal' arid State Ministers. Mr. Barclay said he had been given the utmost' assistance: All the information •he had sought had been put at his disposal, and. he regarded his trip- as; having been most successful. One" outcome of his visit would be the importation of an additional 10Q.000 sacks of barley from South Australia for fowl and pig food. Discussing the question of. orange supplies for the Dominion; Mr. Barclay said that New Zealand imported 41,000 cases of navel oranges this year, compared -with, 35,000 cases last year, but owing to the greatly-increased Australian demand it was going to be difficult to maintain' importations.