NOT THE BUDGET!

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22405, 12 August 1947, Page 4

NOT THE BUDGET!

TOBACCO SHORT CIGARETTE “MAKINGS” USUAL SUPPLIES SENT Consumers of New Zealand-packed cigarette tobacco in Gisborne have encountered an unusual shortage of supplies during the past few days, and regular customers for whom tobacconists are usually able to^ provide a minimum ration even in times of extreme shortage find it necessary to change to unaccustomed brands to tide over the stringency. “Tailor-made" cigarettes arc not short, owing to the availability of supplies from Canada and England, but importations of loose cigarette tobaccos, ready-packed for retail sale, have diminished markedly owing to the high price level which prime costs and other charges would make necessary. The New Zealand tobacco-consuming public has not yet adjusted its ideas of price to overseas levels, and experiences with earlier importations of ready-packed cigarette tobacco were not completely satisfactory for the importers. In these circumstances, the producers of popular brands of cigarette tooacco in New Zealand are bearing a heavy burden in the face of labour shortages, and two major firms now have branch factories established in provincial towns where there is a prospect of securing labour more readily than in Wellington. The product of these factories is expected to make a difference to the supply position. Supplies Will Not Be Delayed Many Gisborne smokers who have found themselves suddenly reduced to short commons have connected the shortage with the imminence of the Budget, arguing that supplies are being withheld by distributors until the contents of Mr. Nash’s statement are available. This assumption is not supported by local merchants who have been in touch with the manufacturers, and who have been assured that supplies due in Gisborne this week will not be delayed.

The practice is to forward supplies of cigarette tobacco for distribution in the town and about the district on the first and sixteenth of each month. Xhc usual quotas were dispatched and distributed early this month, and the midmonth supply should be in Gisborne bv the end of this week. It is hoped to have the tobacco in the shops by Friday.

So far from there being any tendency to delay consignments pending examination of the Budget proposals the manufacturers have informed Gisboine merchants that they are _ satisfied to maintain the usual deliveries, and that mo sDecial precautions against a suostantial change in the retail price ot cigarette tobacco are being taken.