THE SUGAR SHORTAGE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 196, 14 May 1920, Page 8

THE SUGAR SHORTAGE

WELLINGTON'S UTFLirS FIGURES FOR THREE MONTH A statement by (he Board of Trade that the output 'of ".lie Auckland sugar refinerv for the first tour months of this year was yreater than, for the corresponding period of last year lias interested many people. The shortage of sugar in Wellington has been particularly acute lately, and retailer.* and consumers are asking why this should he the case if the Iward s statement i.i .r.-c prate. Yesterday n retail grocer told n Dominion reporter that the official statements did not fit-the facts. "My own experience suggests that the quantity of sugar coming into Wellington is le-s than half the normal." said the retailer. "I cannot get half the sugar that my. customers are asking for. Will the Board of Trade tell us just how much sugar is coming into the city? I shall be very surprised indeed to hear that the supply is anything like normal." The chairman of the Board of Trade (Mr. W. G. M'Donald), when approached by n Dominion reporter, said that he could give some figures. The board had taken control of the distribution of sugar, in January last. The deliveries of sugar in Wellington during the first three months of tliis year, and of. the two pre. coding years had been as follows:— v \ 1918. 1919. 1920. Tons. Tons. Tons. January Ml C 35 538 February 813 1017 854 March 785 353 719 Totals 22G-1 2005 2111 i Mr. M'Donald added that Wellington probably had suffered more than any other port from the shipping difficulties. The figures he had quoted showed that tho deliveries of sugar in Wellington had been greater in the ftist quarter of this year than in the first quarter of last year. The difficulty that some people were experiencing in supplies was due in part to the exhaustion of stocks. The country appeared now to bo living hand-to-mouth in tho matter of sugar. But ho believed that there was enough sugar being produced for the rcaonable requirements of tho public if nobody attempted to hoard. Tlie chairman of directors of th'o Colonial Sugar Refining Company, at the annual meeting held last week in Sydney, stated that the company could not see its wav to continue the'supply of New Zealand with sugar on the lines now prevailing/ because of the control over selling prices here, Mr. Eater, said his company had offered to sell the Fiji crop to the New Zealand Government, and to refine the raw material under an agreement. This scheme, said Mr. Kater, would bo similar to what is at present operating in Australia. Though the price the company asked was r. remunerative one, the Government would then get their sugar at a cost very much less than they pay for 6iigar from Java. Tho cost of Java sugar landed in New Zealand would be over Is. per pound.