PRICE NOW TREBLE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22585, 13 March 1948, Page 4

PRICE NOW TREBLE

NEWSPRINT SUPPLIES IMPORTS FROM CANADA (P.A.) WELLINGTON, March 13. The landed cost of newsprint to New Zealand publishers will be increased by another £2 5s 4d a ton as from Aoril 1, according to advice received from Canada by the Newspaper Proprietors' Association. This will bring the price of newsprint to about treble what it was before the war. In 1938 the landed cost of newsprint was approximately £l3 10s a tort, but throughout the war years the price rose steeply to £35 10s a ton at the cessation of hostilities. But this was not the end of price increases During 1946 further rises added another £3 to the cost. Price increases continued throughout 1947 and the landed cost has now risen to a new level of close on £47 a ton. The cost of importing newsprint into New Zealand does not finish at New Zealand main ports and it Is estimated that with this latest rise it will cost New Zealand publishers at the main ports about £SO a ton by the time their paper is on the machines ready for printing. For many provincial papers the price will be far in excess of £SO owing to the heavy freight charges to the various provincial towns. Before the war Newspaper Proprietors’ Association members imported about 31,000 tons of newsprint annually. This year owing to the dollar crisis' and import restrictions importations for members has been held down to 17,000 tons, or ( only a little over half the prewar imports.