C *k~ 30A

1945 NEW ZEALAND

INTERNAL MARKETING DIVISION ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH, 1945

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly pursuant to the Provisions of the Marketing Act, 1936

INTRODUCTORY This report is made up to the period when the United Nations were obviously awaiting only the final word for the advance into the heart of Nazi Germany to conclude the European phase of the war. The Internal Marketing Division has continued to organize the production, processing, and marketing of a number of perishable foodstuffs for shipment to all branches of the Armed Forces, but particularly to the United States military Forces in the Pacific area. The major new activity of the Division has been the erection and operation of four fruit and vegetable dehydration plants combining in their activities packing of fresh supplies for export in refrigerated ships, cool storing whilst awaiting shipment, canning, and " quick freezing." New Zealand is not normally a country which grows large supplies of vegetables, and the work has therefore principally been one of starting from a very small beginning in the production field. Details of the sites of factories and the amounts supplied to the Forces will be found later in this report. In spite of the very huge quantities shipped out of this country, retail shops have been kept filled and consumers have not been kept short of vegetables over the period. The Division has necessarily had to maintain its control over the distribution of essential foods such as butter, eggs, apples and pears, imported fruits, honey, and other less important items, as problems connected with them have arisen from time to time. The Division has now been in existence for eight years, and with the establishment of branches in different parts of the country is able to keep fairly good check on distribution matters. The Division had only two and a half years' experience of peacetime conditions before the war, and many of its major activities had to be adapted to war conditions in order to meet emergencies. With the return of peace, consideration must necessarily be given to the continuation of the normal peacetime work of the Division of bringing about orderly marketing and distribution within the realms of primary production in New Zealand. In common with all other Government Departments and private concerns, the Division has felt the man-power shortage very keenly and much of the inspectoral and