SEARCH FOR RUBBER

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 258, 30 July 1942, Page 4

SEARCH FOR RUBBER

Special Envoy To Go 1 Abroad GOVERNMENT’S EFFORTS

New Zealand is to send an envoy abroad specially to try to get more rub- ■ ber, said the Acting-Prime Minister and Minister of Supply, Mr. Sullivan, at the opening of the New Zealand Wholesale Ice Cream Manufacturers’ Association annual conference yesterday in Wellington. “It would be scarcely, possible for me to use language in regard to rubber and tyres that would be an exaggeration of the difficulty with which we are confronted at the present moment,” said Mr. .Sullivan. “We cannot get any tyres at all into this country unless we. can find the rubber, and I have only to mention the fact that more than 90 per cent, of the rubber supply of the world is in the hands of our. enemies to impress on you the position that exists. The prospects of getting rubber are not at all bright. We have been able to make arrangements with Australia for the manufacture of a number of tyres, incorporating in them a certain amount of rubber which we are instrumental in getting authority to secure The arrangements I am referring to would not meet more than a couple of months’ supply, so we are taking steps to send a special envoy to the United States of America, and if necessary to England, to concentrate on this particular question of getting sufficient rubber to carry the transport or this country. I am anticipating that we will have at least a measure of success.” Mr. Sullivan said the most determined efforts were being made by the Government to get rubber for tyres and other articles, and with the assistance of the Minister at Washington and the supply missions in England and America rubber would be got if it was possible to get it.