RAW MATERIALS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 16 October 1941, Page 4

RAW MATERIALS

MANUFACTURERS WORRIED DELAY IN ISSUING Ll< ENSES Dunedin, Oct. 15. "Manuf.K tui ( j • I . ' e donq a great job so far in supplying this ‘country's requirements since the beginning of the war." said ihe president of the New Zealand Manufacturer-,’ Federation, Mr C. V. Smith, at the annual meeting of the Dunedin Manufacturers' Assoc, al ion. "but they cannot be blamed Mr Smith was moving a vote of thanks to Mr J. G. Coates, who had come from Wellington to speak on the Lease and Lend Act and its application In the Dominion as part of the British Commonwealth of Nations, and he took the opportunity of discussing it briefly from the manufacturer's point (.s view. The manufacturers, he said, were more than worried at the shortage of raw materials, which was likely to be much more serious in 1942. There was a false impression abroad that import control had meant unlimited supplies of raw materials for manufacturers. If that had been the case there would not be the shortage in many lines to-day. Though at the lequest ol manufacturers Mr Nash announced the sixlhi period schedule several months ago thousands of licenses had not yet been i sued. In other cases licenses had been issued for most of the materials required for a product, but the license for some essential ingredient had been held up. Prices were still rising over ; seas and sources of supply were being rut off overnight, and it was no exug- . gcration to say that one day's delay in placing an order had meant and might continue to mean weeks and months of delay in shipment, while the cost to the country ran into thousands of pounds. Unfortunately, the Government departments did not seem to ' understand that the position was similar in the case of the Lease and Lend Act. , "Though this Act is a Godsend to the Allied cause, any further delay in operating the scheme may well prove disastrous to New Zealand,” said Mr Smith.—P.A.