EXTRA ORDERS FOR LIME

Southland Times, Issue 24234, 18 September 1940, Page 4

EXTRA ORDERS FOR LIME

OUTPUT RAISED BY COMPANIES URGENT NEEDS TO BE MET 1 An undertaking to execute orders for 3400 tons of lime urgently required in Southland for cultivation purposes was given by representatives of the lime companies of the province when they met the Lime Committee of the Southland Council of Primary Production yesterday. This quantity, which will be delivered during the next three months, is additional to the orders which have already been booked by the companies and which total, it is understood, 135,000 tons. The committee agreed to urge the Government to exempt the companies from payment of time-and-a-half overtime rates for Saturday afternoon work so that an additional shift a week might be arranged. Mr G. Stevenson, of Dacre, was chairman of the meeting and Mr J. W. Woodcock, fields superintendent of the Department of Agriculture for Otago and Southland, was present. The secretary, Mr A. L. Adamson, said he had received advice that 3400 tons of lime would be urgently required in Southland during the next three months for cultivation purposes in addition to the orders which had already been booked by the companies for the season. ORDERS ACCEPTED The companies’ representatives agreed to accept these orders and deliver them as required, stating that they were arranging to increase their output to the maximum possible. They stated that they would allocate the additional orders among themselves. The chairman expressed the thanks of the committee and said the companies had met the extraordinary situation in a spirit of co-operation. After the companies’ representatives had made a suggestion that the permission of the Government should be obtained for working on Saturday afternoons and evenings at ordinary rates of wages, the committee agreed to make application for this authority. It was stated that if an additional shift could be worked on Saturdays production of lime in Southland would be increased by 1000 tons a week.

The companies’ representatives emphasized the necessity for farmers to return bags promptly to the works. They stated that a considerable amount of delay was being caused in deliveries through farmers retaining companies’ bags for an undue length of time. One representative said that his company was unable at present to execute orders because the whole of its stock of 65,000 bags was in the hands of farmers. Farmers sending their own bags for lime should forward them at least a fortnight before delivery was expected. The committee undertook to make a widespread appeal to farmers to return all bags promptly.