BOATS FOR THE WAR

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 303, 9 May 1941, Page 8

BOATS FOR THE WAR

400,000 PAIRS A WEEK MADE TANNERS INCREASE OUTPUT Britain's sole leather tanners increased their output last year by almost half in order to maintain the supply of 400, 000 pairs, of boots a week for the, Services. There was at no timq any shortage either of these; of boots and shoes for the home market and for overseas; or of leather for export. Sixty per cent of. British sole leather is tanner frcan imported hides. Last year they werei safely shipped to Britain from more than sixty overseas ports. Large l consignments wore: received from the Empire which it is estimated possesses 40 per cent, of the world's livestock and, from the Argentine where there arc usually 60,000,000 cattle on the hoof. The war time achievement of increasing by 50 per cent, the sole 1 leathea- produced from the raw hides was brought about partly by intensifying the methods of production and partly by a scheme for regulating ahead the probable demand. As a result' of the increase export licences are now being granted for British sole leather made to special formulae to suit the varying climates of its different markets.