TOBACCO SHORTAG

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 90, 17 July 1945, Page 4

TOBACCO SHORTAG

PROSPECTS OF IMPROVEMENT MR W. SULLIVAN'S ENQUIRY "What effective steps does the Minister of Supply propose to take to relieve the long-existing famine of cigarettes and tobacco?" asked Mr W. Sullivan: (N&tional } Bay of Plenty) in an, urgent question in the House of Representatives. "With increased manpower available why is it that there is a decrease in tobacco supplies? Is it not a fact that retailers ar e having their quotas consistently reduced?" In reply 5 the Minister said there had not been a pronounced shortage of male workers, so that the increased availability of manpower did not affect the position. With the recent reduction in certain munitions works a considerable number of women were transferred to the industry two weeks ago and it was ex-< pected that this would lead to a substantial rise in production this . month. It was a fact that retailers had had their tobacco quotas reduo ed ? but this had been inevitable because of the reduced output from the factories. With the increased female labour recently available for tobacco, manufacture he was hopeful that the tobacco output would ' now steadily improve, though this would be. conditioned almost entire-, ly by the continued availability of female labour.