COSTS FACED BY NEWSPAPERS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22521, 1 October 1938, Page 15

COSTS FACED BY NEWSPAPERS

INCREASED PRICE OP T

NEWSPRINT

STATEMENT TO PROPRIETOR ASSOCIATION opum usoeunoa mnuU

WELLINGTON, September 30Newspapers in' New Zealand, ing to Mr. C. W. Earle, president «f, the Newspaper Proprietors' Aasoda-, - tion, are faced with further additions j to their costs of production which will - almost certainly necessitate Norte Poland daily publications - abolishing the discount now allowed to weekly subscribers.' Speaking at the halfyearly meeting of the Newspaper to- : prietors - association, Mr Earle stated that the English prices for newsprint paper for 1939 had recently come to band, and they indicated a further increase in tee price of about 25 p«bcent. Canadian prices were not. Jd J: available, but on present appearances_ they would be on a parity with the-.” English figures. - : This prospective increase in news-. print paper prices followed lutraaw*. - in costs in other directions whichhad. been rapidly climbing during the last: ~ three years. Increased wages and - shortened hours of work accounted for added costs totalling from U to SZ per cent. . Cable service costs had ime - up, transport charges were heavier ? than ever, overseas freights weremoy- ~ ing in the wrong direction; rates, taxes, and prices of materials and mvices of all descriptions were up, and-,; there was no prospect of relief in any-_ direction. In the South Island and In acneparts of the North Island newspapers - had been forced to withdraw tne dis- ; count to weekly subscribers, and make ' a imiform price, in order to meet ttaaae. v increased costs, Mr Earle added. In the - North Island action in this direction had been postponed, but in the light of the latest very substantial advance in newsprint costs he did not see how ■ it could be any longer avoided. - It would be desirable, however, to await official news from Canada as to the 1939 contract prices before reach- - ing a final decision. This course was agreed on by the association.