NO MORE PAPER BAGS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10559, 9 April 1920, Page 5

NO MORE PAPER BAGS

FAMINE 'THREATENED,

SHOPPERS MUST USE BASKETS.

“There is going to be_ such an acute famine in paper bags that a great deal of the shopping iu the near future will’ hare to bo done with baskets and other receptacles.’’ This prediction was made to a Christchurch “Sun’’ representative by a merchant, who was pointing out that, in the near future, a famina in many kinds of paper vea a certainty. Whilst the mam trouble is concerning, supplies of newsprint paper, suppliers abroad are also closing down on orders for paper bags and otheir kinds of paper. The merchant showed, as evidence of this, a number pf cancellations and withdrawals of quotations from Canada and England. In England, it was itated, it is impossible to supply the trade there let alone expor>. At one time mills in New Zealand produced almost all the paper bags, etc., that are required They are nowunable to secure sufficient sulphite pulo for the purpose, and an endeavour is being made —but more or less unsuccessfully— to get these classes ot paper from Canada - and other countries The trouble is that the blew Zealand mills have no machinery for pulping timber. In anada, the wood is ground and chemically treated into a sulphite pulp. The Zealand manufacturers import this sulphite pulp and mix it with old paper, tus sock, rags,- etc. From this they manufacture paper for their special requirements. _____