RESTRICTED IMPORTATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 3313, 12 September 1917, Page 24

RESTRICTED IMPORTATION.

AUCKLAND September 5. Local importers state that vthere is quite a scarcity in certain lines of imports in daily use. Glass, oils, and white lead are amongst the articles that are gradually becoming scarcer, and sheet and corrugated irons are pow practically unprocurable. Corrugated iron, which was sold before the war at about £lB a ton, cannot be bought now fop £BO. Substitutes for this iron as a roofing material are also greatly advanced in price, and are not so satisfactory as the material they displace. Tiles, for instance, oame hero through Marseilles, and were brought over generally by slow-sailing veeBels. Now they do not come at all. Wire of all grades and kinds has been banned as an export from Great Britain. A large importer of ironmongery states that " people do not realise the position. They apply for certain quantities of goods, and we give them perhaps a quarter of their order, and they are annoyed. The position is not brought home to them, and it is past .time when it should be made clear that there are no stocks of any materials coming, and what i 3 in hand is being steadily and surely dispersed. Sir Joseph Ward, on his return from the Old Country, said he would not be surprised if everything except foodstuffs was barred as exports from Groat Britain. This seems to be quite true. We have very little in hand now, and stocks are going to get lower and lower till they are at a very low ebb indeed ; and they will stay low for a long time after the war."