WIRE SHORTAGE ACUTE

Chronicle (Levin), 28 February 1947, Page 4

WIRE SHORTAGE ACUTE

Farmers Express Concern NO IMPROVEMENT SEEN FOR SOME YEARS The acute shortage of fencing - and haybaling wire is causing grave concern ampng the farming community. Speaking at a meeting pf the Levin branch of the Federateid Farmers last night, the chairman, , Mr, G. E. C. Webb said that though " he daplored the present situation, ' it must be realised that it was not confined. tp New Zealand, The shortage .was world-wide, and he had been told on good authority that it would be ten years before normal consignments were received. ' That there was plehty of steel found for war purposes and in eonsequence there should be none pf this trouble in days of peace, was an opinion expressed by one of the member-S present.

Retailer's Problems When asked to comment on the situaoion, . local retailers told a "Chronicle" representative this morning that there had been licenses granted for thousands pf tons of wire but these were still awaiting fulfilment. "It is worse now than during any part of the war," he said. Lend Lease had gu&ranteed sufficienl consignments from the United States to keep them going, but since then thepesition had gone from bad to worse. Another retailer said he had received only five owt. of wire over a 12-month period. He said he did not agree that it would take 10 years before the position was rectified, but admitted that in his estimation some three years would elapee before any improvement was apparent. The' countries from which wire was normally imported, Australia, Canada, Great Britain and America, were, due to production troubles, unable to supply large quantities for overseas use. Shippiilg was of course another rmpo'rtant factor. The steel situation in Great Britain was particularly acute just'now. It was impossible to obtain baling wire in New Zealand, but this difficulty had been largely overcome by the introduction of baling twine, which was proving very satisfactory and produced a good job.

The person who was most seuously affected by th,e wire shortage, was in his opinion, the small farmer; whose opera tions were at a standstill just now. Asked if any supplies of barbed wire were obt'ainable through the Y/ar Assets Realisation Board, he stated that quantities of used wire from the Pacific and defence areas in New Zealand had been distributed from this source but what was left was being used by the Public Works Department. Wire netting was being manufactured in New Zealand, but there again the difficulty was in obtaining wire. The situation today was not very satisfactory either to farmers or merchants. said one retailer. Many commodities such as paint, wire, staples and nails, were coming to hand in such small quantities that if thev arrived in the morning they were gone by night. i It was disheartening to .their staff to have to go out in the morning to secure orders and find on return *hat all supplies of the commodity he had promised his customers to obtain, had all been exhausted. | Considerable expense and inconj venience were entailed by mer- ! chants in "ehasing up" orders. Toll icails to all parts of New' Zealand were necessary to ensure that the jsecuring and delivery of supplies were expedited. The problem was one of great magnitude and it was hard for merchants to continually have to say no to prospective Stnd old customers.