TOBACCO INDUSTRY

Evening Star, Issue 23041, 20 August 1938, Page 11

TOBACCO INDUSTRY

ITS SATISFACTORY DEVELOPMENT [Per United Press Association.] CHRISTCHURCH, Aug. 19. The potential importance of New Zealand’s export trade in tobacco was emphasised by the Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr D. G. Sullivan) when commenting in an interview to-day on the progress being made by the industry generally. The Government is assisting in the development of the export side and, as the Minister pointed out, is now giving a guaranteed advance against shipments. The Minister said that, recognising the possibilities 'of the growing of tobacco in New Zealand as a means of providing additional employment for numbers of men and women and as a means of increasing the national income, the Government had from the time of its coming into office taken active steps to encourage and develop the industry. These steps had been taken not only in respect of the production of leaf for manufacture in New Zealand, but also, for the production of leaf for export. “ It is the opinion of the Government that we should be able to grow in New Zealand a much larger proportion of our requirements of the leaf than we have done in the past and, furthermore, that an everincreasing proportion of our requirements of manufactured tobacco and cigarettes should be manufactured in this country. The efforts of the Government in so'far as the tobacco industry is concerned will-continue to be directed to this end, as they have been in the past. On the export side Empire leaf has been becoming more and more popular in the United Kingdom for a number of years past, especially for the manufacture of cigarettes. With Government assistance in the way of a guaranteed advance against the leaf, a shipment of New Zealand leaf has been made in each of the last few seasons and the result of these shipments has shown that our leaf is definitely acceptable to the United Kingdom manufacturers. “Provided that our leaf pan be produced at a satisfactory price and provided that continuous attention is given to the maintenance and improvement of quality, there is no reason why we should hot develop a really worthwhile export trade in tobacco leaf with the United Kingdom,” the Minister concluded.