DUTY ON FLOUR

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVII, Issue 10829, 27 January 1927, Page 7

DUTY ON FLOUR

DISCUSSION AT CONFERENCE. ASHBURTON GROWERS' POSITION (Per Press Association.) OHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Speaking at the conference of wheatgrowers, merchants, and business-men in connection with the wheat industry, held yesterday, Mr W. T. Lill, of Ashburton, said he wanted to make it clear at the outset that he was one of those who were not satisfied with 6s a bushel for wheat, and 1 unless more could be obtained many farmers would give up wheat-growing and go in for stock rattening. If men were going to get their wheat away at 5s 6d it was going to damage the industry for years to come. He maintained that there was no common sense in the idea that the wheat of Canterbury should be sacrificed just because someone had got a fad in the North Island. If Ministers were not prepared to look at the thing fairly and squarely simply because an election was coming on, then the sooner they got out of politics the better.

Mr A. W. Be'aven, president of the Canterbury Manufacturers Association, assured the wheat-growers of the support of the manufacturers. Mr W. Machin (president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce) said the position in a nutshell was that they were menaced by the flour coming into the Dominion from Australia. They did not want flour to come in at all. If it was necessary to have imports it should come in as wehat, not as flour. What they had to decide among themselves was what was a reasonable return for the wheat-growers. They had to consider the persons who could not afford to pay a high price for bread. Instead of increasing the price they should try to reduce it. He thought they should earnestly ask the Government to consider if the enormous amount of duty collected on imports of wheat and flour should not be used to even things up the South Island.

The Minister Criticised. Mr G. W. Leadley. said he was strongly in favour of the motion suggested by Mr Gibson, as it offered a reasonable solution of the difficulty. The question seemed to resolve itself into the imposition of the antidumping duties. What had surprised him greatly was the industry with which the Acting-Prime Minister had tried to evade the pcfiint. Be had recollections of great energy displayed in protecting certain manufacturing industries from injury as a result of unfair competition from abroad. When, a deputation waited on the Minister in connection with the matter, Mr. Downie Stewart replied that there were difficulties in the way, and those difficulties were so great and so numerous that he could not introduce the antidumping duty. That was a very regretable thing and a damaging reflection on the ability of Parliament. Mr Leadley maintained that every statement contained in the manifesto issued by Mr Stewart in reply to Mr Jon.es was an argument in favour of the imposition of the anti-dumping duties. There was sufficient wheat in the Dominion to supply requirements for the next nine or ten months, so why, in the name of commerce, should flour be imported. He thought that there should be no further importations until the supplies of locally-grown wheat were nearing exhaustion. The wheatgrowers were not out to exploit the public. He did, not wish to see wheat at such a price that the consumers would be penalised. He did not want to see bread more than a shilling a loaf, and he believed that at such a price the farmers could be paid 6s 6d a bushel for 1 their wheat. They should impress on the Government that this was a crucial time; if the Government was going to jettison the industry it was a bad outlook for the future.

An Urgent Issue.

Mr Carr said he wished to. emphasise the urgency of the matter. In his district 40,000 bushels had been sold forward and another 100,000 bushels had been sold in Canterbury. Mr D. Jones, M.P., said his experience was that the North Island was not opposed to a reasonable duty on wheat and flour, and the political question did not enter into it as much as many thought. The position was that the duties could not be altered until Parliament met. Therefore the only relief they could obtain immediately was by way of a dumping duty. A matter of vital importance to the wheatgrowers was the Privy Council decision in connection with Distributors, Ltd. If Distributors, Ltd., were going to live there would be practically only one buyer of wheat in New Zealand. He wished to emphasise that Distributors, were not prepared to let the meeting see a copy of a letter it had sent to the Collector,, of Customs regarding the question of the dumping duty. He hoped that Distributors

would give them a copy of that letter before the deputation waited on the Acting-Prime Minister next week. He was anxious to see a copy of that letter in order to know whether the farmers and Distributors, Ltd., were putting up two different cases. At the present price of wheat it meant a reduction in the price of bread. The chairman said the position was that they were only about 1200 miles from a very big crop of wheat in Australia. He suggested having a wheat pool in New Zealand. Mr Machin: The importation of flour would knock the pool sideways. The chairman said it would Be better to import the wheat and stop the importation of flour altogether. Mr Hall: They would hear of an embargo. The chairman: What about a pool ? Mr Kyle: It's too late this year.

Recent Quotations,

Mr Jones mentioned that millers had been buying wheat during the past few days at 5s 9d and 6s a bushel on trucks at country stations. Mr J.' Bitchener, M.P., said he thought it was quite essential that the matter of dumping should be attended to at once. It was useless to talk of altering the'duties at present, because that couldn't be done until Parliament met. Every effort should be made to induce the Government to put on the dumping duty at once. There was no other course open to them at the moment than the imposition of the dumping duty. The Government, he thought, must admit that the matter was of vital importance, not only to Canterbury but to the whole Dominion. He agreed with Mr Jones that the Government was not against fair protection. They should ask the Govern-

ment to deal with the matter very earnestly and very quickly for the selfpreservation and protection of the fanners of this part of New Zealand. Mr H. S. S. Kyle, M.P., said that at present they must confine themselves to the question of the dumping duty. He did not think it was necessary to send a deputation to Wellington, and he thought it would be sufficient to send the resolution to Wellington. The machinery was in existence, and it was up to the Government to impose the duties.

Deputation Next Wednesday. The sub-committee set up by the conference met in the afternoon, and agreement was reached on the points to be submitted by the deputation which is to wait on the Minister in Wellington. The deputation will consist of representatives of the bodies represented at yesterday's conference and of other sections of the community interested.

It was decided to telegraph to the Minister and ask him to receive the deputation next Wednesday.

STATEMENT BY CORSON. LETTER TO CUSTOMS ''DEPARTMENT. When he was shown a report of the conference yesterday afternoon Jdtr F. R. Corson, chairman of directors of Distributors, Ltd., made the following statement: —■ '' Until this morning, when Mr J. D. Hall rang me up to say that the Minister of Customs had asked him to ask me to be present at the conference, the millers' representatives were not invited. They seem to be under the impression that the millers are oppqseo. to' the dumping duty. The position is that at the meeting of wheatgrowers in May last I showed from a letter from the Board of Trade that the Government was aware of a difference of 30s a ton between the home consumption price and the export price of flour from Australia. The wheatgrowers then gave no assistance toward getting a dumping duty imposed, but now that they have satisfied themselves that there is a difference of 25s a ton, they feel aggrieved because the Minister .declines to impose the duty, and they blame the millers for it.

" Because of some . letter that had been written to the Customs Department, there _ seems to be an impression that the millers are opposed to the dumping duty, and there seems to be some warrant for this in the statement attributed to the Minister of Customs that the attitude of Distributors, Ltd., was prejudicing the agitation for the impositionT of the dumping duty. The facts are that on January 20 the Customs Department asked for information about flour to be imported, and, to show that we have not argued pro or con on the matter of the dumping duty, I am quite willing that the letter should be published." Mr Corson then handed the reporter a copy of the following letter, and asked that it be published:—

Thursday, 20th January, 1927. The Comptroller of Customs, Customs Department, Christchurch.

Dear Sir, —Jn reply to your inquiry, the shipments of flour arranged for to date are as follow:

Tons. Karetu, ex Sydney, now en route 150 Koromiko, ex Sydney, now en route 150 Moeraki, ex Melbourne, leaving January 26 700 Manuka, ex Sydney, leaving January 28 275 Kiwitea, ex Melbourne, leaving January 26 870 Waihora, ex Melbourne, leaving February 23 70 Small purchases, shipment not named 205 % - 2420 Confidentially ? we became aware last week of a possible serious shortage in the North Island, and these purchases have been arranged with a view to j meeting the position. We have not made the flour position known to avoid panic buying. j We recognise further imports are es-' sential for February, and are now arranging for some, as we realise no new season's wheat will be available for satisfactory milling in February.

Yours .faithfully, DISTRIBUTORS LIMITED F. R. CORSON, Chairman of Directors.

"It will be noticed," he added, "that we were keeping to ourselves the fact that there was a shortage of flour in order to avoid anything in the way of a panic, and those responsible for the suggestion that we opposed the dumping: duty must mow accept the responsibility for any position which may arise through it being publicly declared that there is a shortage of flour. Our position is an unfortunate one, inasmuch as on the one.hand we are being

blamed by Ministers and wheat-grow-ers for importing flour with, the object of. keeping down the price of wheat, and on the other hand the consumers are blaming" us because the supplies of flour are not at present available in the Dominion. For the last week or ten; days I have been able to do nothing else biit superintend the distribution of flour as equitably as possible, and yet. in spite of it, I have received numer- | ous telegrams from bakers in the North Island stating that they have to close down in the course of the next day or two owing to no flour being available. "It is quite an erroneous idea that Distributors, Ltd., axe in any way connected with the purchasing of wheat. Every, miller has the fullest liberty to buy or not, according to his judgment. "We have made arrangements to carry on until the end of February," Mr Corson concluded, "and there is nothing to prevent the Minister of Customs immediatelv imposing a dumping duty on all flour imported from Australia. If he acted immediately, there would be this advantage, that people would not be likely to import an excess quantity to hold it over with the object of beating the price down."