SUPPLY OF ORANGES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 30 September 1942, Page 4

SUPPLY OF ORANGES

PUBLIC LIKELY TO GO SHORT New Plymouth, Sept. 29 When tlie oranges now in New Zealand are finished it is unlikely that any more will be available except for the Plunket Society and invalids, said the Minister of Marketing. Mr Barclay, at New Plymouth yesterday, when replying to complaints about oranges being priced at 3d each and 5d for larger “Oranges ar • being retailed at Gd each in Australia now.” he said, “and if they were brought to New Zealand they would have to be sold at 8d or 9d Australia, once a country where oranges could be bought cheaply by the bucket, ha? lost that enviable re putation. chiefly because of huge or ders for orange juice from the United States armed forces " When he was in Australia early in August, said the Minister, large oranges that would >ell in New Zealand at 34d were sailing there at 4Ad each. Bananas were the same price in both countries but Sturmer and Granny Smith apples which retailed at 2d each in Australia were being sold in Wellington at 4d to 6d a lb. There should be sufficient lemons to meet present needs, though there was a short crop at Tauranga. Mr Barclay said, referring particularly to the New Plymouth market It had been the custom to import from the islands and from Australia, but shipping diffieul ties and the Army demand? in Australia interfered with those sources of supply. PA.