Merchants Blame Import Bungling

Chronicle (Levin), 8 July 1948, Page 9

Merchants Blame Import Bungling

Press Association)

(Per

WELLINGTON, July 7. A sug-gestion that the millions . of 'cigarettes which had been imported to NeW Zealand, might be i-e-exported, was made by Mr. M. H. Oram, M.P., in a question which he addressed to the Minister of Supply, Mr, Nordmeyeiyin the Honse of Representatives tliis afternoon. » , Mr. Oram asked: "Will the Minister state whether it is true" that there is a- surplus of approximately 300,000,000 imported cigarettes in this eountry and that steps are now being taken to grant licenees to re-export these to Australia and other eountries?" In Wellington tobacconists are di'splaying great quantities of Canadian cigarettes which are being oft'ered for. sale in cartons, so | great is the glut and so poor is the demand for the types under offer.LIOE1TCES GRANTED AT RANDOM .Latest astronomical figures to be produced on the wrong side, thaiiks to Government inte'rference in business, is a surplus of 300,000,000 importecl cigarettes which, after being brought half-way round the globe to New Zealand, are now to be exported to whoever will buy thein in Australia or t'urther afield, states Freedom. Intport licenees were issued for their 1m- 1 portation, and licenees have now to be; obtained bcfore they can be exported. • News of this latest example of the Government 's consnnuuate abilitv to. turn a famine into a glut — women 's hosierv was an earlier example — came in a press mcssage from New Plyniouth. Minister of Industries and Commerce Arnold Henry Nordmeyer has beeu silent on the subject. Makiug wide inquiries in the tobaceo trade last week, Freedom understands that wholesalers are holding approximately 1. 30, 000, 000 imported Britisb and Canadiaji cigarettes. Anotlier 150,000,000 are held by retailers. As the Canadian cigarettes are not paeked in airtiglit tins they are deteriorating appreciably. The bond value of the cigarettes is 30s' per thousand, makiug the tofai value involved about £450,000. Ubviously if the merchants fail to clear all the stocks they stand to lose neavuy, wnue the u-ovemment's loss of heavy excise duties will not he mconsiderahle. Surplus stocks of cigarette tobaceo held in New Zealand by wholesalers a»e estimated to exceed 100,0001b. Poiled it would make 43,000,000-odd cigar-

ette^— and not " raeehorses ' r at that. Asked how this state of affairs ''cauie about, merchants and other authorities in the tobaceo industry sunimed up the reasons as:— Import control: After a long drought of licenees. for made-up tobaceo and cigarette imports-, the Government sud,aeniy beeame • winay" oi lts view that smokers should turn over to acid drops. Licenees were granted haphazardly. Many importers, not knowing whether. this- great induigence would he repeated, indented large orders while the going was good". Neither the trade nor the manufacturers were consulted when the licenees were granted. The Government, as in similar cases, '*knew ali about it". At the dis'c'retion of the Department of Industries and Commerce, licenees I were granted at l'andom to pepple witiiout any possible connection with the tobaceo trade. They sought only to make ' ' a killing ' ' out of what appeared to be "a good fhing", and an ilanti])roiit ' ' Government helped them. No real basis was used in compiiitig a i survey of the tobaceo and cigarette ueeds of the countrv. Traders consider licenees should. have beeu gi-anted only io those who held them in 3038. With typical jnconsistency, the Government insists on 193S bases in many othei lines wliere the stipulatiOn is unrea; and uinvorkable. > Th rough failure to confer witli the trade, the Government did not allow for increases in the output of New Zealand ..manufacturers. Qne Wellington facfory has increased its output by 35 per cent. since Christmas. A new factory has started production. the Government showed its customary servitude to militant groups, and tobaceo had to be imported to satisfy certain groups who threatened-to strike if it was not forthcpming. Postscript on the fag fiasco is the t'act that British smokers are hard put to find something to smoke, aml then onlv at prohibitive prices. Doubtloss they would be-very warmed up at the state of afl'airs in the New Zealand tobaceo trade, especially if the English cigarettes, like some of the surplus American stocks disposed' of at the eud of the war, are destined to be smoked ' by municipal destructors in New Zealand.