PRODUCE STOCKS AT DUNEDIN

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24909, 24 June 1946, Page 6

PRODUCE STOCKS AT DUNEDIN

GOODS NEEDED IN NORTH ISLAND SHIPPING DELAY (P.A.) DUNEDIN, June 22. A shortage of shipping space, with the consequent pressure on local stores to carry accumulating stocks of produce lines, continues in Dunedin. Stores are carrying heavy stocks of potatoes, seeds, fodder, wheat, and oats which have been purchased by North Island merchants, but shipping space is not available to transport them to the localities where they have been, and still are, urgently needed. A special request was made by the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) for the South Island to meet the demand for lines of fodder urgently needed in the North Island, and Otago farmers and Dunedin merchants responded to the request. A considerable quantity of hay was secured for shipment. This was over two months ago, and it is still impossible to find all the shipping space required for the hay and other lines of produce. The whole position is unprecedented in the history of the local grain business. The North Island is in urgent need of many lines of produce and the South Island has these lines in plenty, but they cannot be transported to. the North Island. Moreover, local merchants are hard pressed to know where to secure space for the produce lines still coming to hand to fulfil orders from the North Island.

In the meantime, much more shipping space is wanted, and the goods in the stores are, in many cases, deteriorating in quality. If the potatoes are held much longer they will have to be picked over.