HEAVY CUT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 June 1941, Page 6

HEAVY CUT

IN AVAILABLE SHIPPING SPACE EFFECT ON AUSTRALIAN TRADE. DEALING WITH SURPLUS PRODUCTS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright' CANBERRA. June 26. The shipping space that will be available for the export of Australian foodstuffs in the third year of the war will be only one-fifth of that in the first year of the war. This intimation was made today by the Minister of Commerce, Sir Earle Page, in announcing the conclusion of the agreement between Britain, New Zealand and Australia covering problems associated with shipping. Sir Earle Page said that the British Government appreciated the serious effect the shipping shortage would have on the Australian economic and financial structure and was still prepared to purchase all the Australian produce that could be shipped. The Australian exporters, in turn, must make every effort to conserve space by such processes as deboning, canning or pressing meat. The Australian people would be asked to adjust their diet in accordance with the surplus problem. The refrigerated space available for meat would be used to ship meat to the Middle East and lamb to England, and the surplus beef and mutton would be canned. Butter production, Sir Earle Page added, would, where possible, be changed over to the production of dried and condensed milk and cheese.