BUTTER SHIPMENT STOPPED.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 April 1918, Page 4

BUTTER SHIPMENT STOPPED.

SPACE REQUIRED FOR TROOPS AND MORE ESSENTIAL GOODS. (Our .Special Correspondent). Wellington, Last Night. A cablegram that was received to-day by the Government from the .British Shipping Controller contains a definite instruction to cease the shipment of butter f rom tlii s country to the United Kingdom as the available space is required for produce yhich is more urgently needed, by the- Imperial Government, and until the new order is cancelled no further shipment of butter can be made. The Prime Minister stated this evening that he realised tlie stoppage of the shipment of butter was a serious matter, but the instruction of the Shipping Controller would have to be followed. He hoped that tlio suspension would be temporary only. The fact was that, at the present juncture, the Imperial Government required every available ton of shipping for the movement of troops and absolutely essential goods and produce, fio New Zealand butter would have to wait-

Mr. Massey added that, fortunately, the local shipping committee had been able to get away a good deal of butter already, and it would have been necessary in any case to hold considerable supplies for the local market during the winter. It was impossible to say just what effect the suspension of shipments would have on the butter industry, since that would depend upon the duration of the new order.