PAPER SHORTAGE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 46, Issue 14118, 12 May 1920, Page 5

PAPER SHORTAGE.

. EXTRA COST TO AUSTRALIA. £4, 300,000 A YEAR. . It is expected that the Canadian pulp *~-nnd paper shortage, so far as it co»jf\cerns relation with Great Britain and - other parts of the British Empire wi be discussed by the Imperial Press Conference, to be held at Ottawa m August next (says the Sydney Morning Herald). The position is reported to be causing grave anxiety to Canadian newspapers. Their increased ■cos o production this year is estimated at over £1,000,000. As the Toronto Globe states, they must curtail tlicii news, and raise the- subscriptions and advertising rates, or publish without a pro--’V. The Western Mail (Cardiff, England) ' •inferring to the position m Great Britain, says that the reason for the paper shortage, is simple. Canada, from which country we used to secure large supplies, is not now exporting to ns country, the Americans taking every ounce they can get at bigger prices than are obtainable-on this side, the Americans, and consumers m other• / countries, are also going to our. biggest J provider, Sweden, for the pulp with \ which paper'is made. Many of the mills which manufactured “news paper in pre-war days, are now manufacturing paper of a superior quality, for which there is an illimitable demand. But this is not the only difficulty. Labour troubles have brought . about a scarcity of pulp, both mechanical 5 ’ pulp and ‘-chemical pulp, and unless a way out is diseoieicd, newspaper proprietors will be hard '"V oressed for another twelve months to brin» out their publications, The only solution for newspapers the wotM over is to reduce sizes and so economise raw material. , . Newsprint paper cannot be landed m Australia to-day under £9O per ton (duty paid). When this rate becomes fully effective upon the expiry of existing contracts, Australian newspapers Kirill be paying £4,300,000 more per year their paper than in pre-war days. —