REDUCED ORANGE SUPPLIES

Southland Times, Issue 24862, 30 September 1942, Page 5

REDUCED ORANGE SUPPLIES

IMPORT DIFFICULTIES (P.A.) NEW PLYMOUTH, Sept. 29. When the present consignments ot oranges in New Zealand are finished i is unlikely any more will be available except for the Plunket Society and invalids, the Minister of Marketing, the Hon. J. G. Barclay, explained at New Plymouth yesterday. He was explaming shipping and other wartime difficulties in reply to complaints about the cost of fruit priced at 3d each and 5a for the larger sizes. “Oranges are being retailed at ba each in Australia now,” he said, ana 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, has lost that enviable reputation, chiefly because of the huge orders for orange juice from the United States Armed Forces.” . , When the Minister was in Australia early in August large oranges that would sell in New Zealand at 31d were selling there at 4|d each. Bananas were the same price in both countries but Sturmers and Granny Smith apples, retailed at 2d each in Australia, were being sold at Wellington at 4d to 6d a P °There should be enough lemons to meet present demands, although there was a short crop at Tauranga, Mr BarC1 Referring particularly to the New Plymouth market, the Minister said it had been the custom to import from the islands and Australia, but shipping difficulties and army demands in Australia had interfered with those sources of supply. _____