Reported Black Market Sales of Australian Lead to Dominion

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22697, 23 July 1948, Page 5

Reported Black Market Sales of Australian Lead to Dominion

SYDNEY, July 22. A black market In the export of lead will halt brick home building if it is not stamped out, according to builders who say that lead for damp courses, grease traps and roofing is practically unprocurable because second hand dealers have cornered local lead supplies for export to New Zealand. The president of the New South Wales Master Plumbers’ Association, Mr. A. Murphy, has advised the Minister of Trade and Customs, Senator Courtice, that dealers are buying lead products at higher than the fixed rates and smelting them into pig lead for export. The fixed price for pig lead here is £22 a ton, and for manufactured lead £45. Builders allege that dealers are offering up to £6O a ton for lead on the black market, and are selling it in New Zealand for £9O a ton. The allegations by the Sydney builders are not taken seriously in Auckland. Inquiries reveal that local supplies of lead, while not over-plentiful, are sufficient to meet demands. The current price for lead landed in Auckland is £llß per ton, following a £7. increase last week. Auckland dealers assert no black market lead has been arriving. They say that while Sydney exporters might be glad to make such deals, they would be unable to get export licenses. New Zealand was supplied on the quota system from Broken Hill, now supplying a large portion of the world’s needs. They said that this quota, with additional lead melted down from waste, was keeping up with the demands for the present.