Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 1931. THE WHEAT INDUSTRY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 51, Issue 135, 20 March 1931, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 1931. THE WHEAT INDUSTRY.

The representations made to the Prime Minister by the recent conference at Christchurch in connection with the wheat industry should weigh with the Government in determining its policy in regard to the sliding scale of duties on wheat and flour. The contention that the Dominion should be self-supporting so far as wheat production is concerned should require no emphasis, for apart altogether from the aspect of the disadvantages of the import of one of the necessities of life, there is the factor of encouragement of an industry most profitable to the Dominion itself. As Mr Machin stated in his letter published early this week, we have no industry that pays the Dominion better, in labour and the promotion of direct and indirect employment: no industry which indirectly pays the consumer so well for what it costs him. The importance - that is attached to the industry is shown in every country in the world by the protection or assistance afforded to growers. For instance, in France there is an import duty of 3s 6d a bushel and an export bounty of 2s 4d a bushel, In England assistance is given to agriculturists by the system of derating; and in the United States subsidies amounting to £20,000,000 have been granted for assistance to the primary industries. The opposition to continuance of the duties, voiced in the North Island, owes its origin to a desire for purely sectional advantage, ignoring altogether the general wellbeing of the Dominion. The critics desire a cheap loaf, unmindful of the fact that this may be attained at the cost of a handicap on an industry that, as already mentioned, plays its part in assisting many other branches of labour. As Mr Machin l stated at the Chamber of Commerce Conference last year : “Supposing we lost the industry and all these people and many others were put out of work, would not New Zealand as a whole be thankful to pay the farmer this price for his wheat in order to regain such a natural large employment-giving industry? It is incomparably better than any scheme of unemployment work we could devise. Admittedly with the general tendency toward lower wages and prices, the wheatgrower must be prepared to receive less for his product than has been the case of recent years, but he should not be called upon to bear all the burden. The great need, as “The Guardian” stated the other day, is that all interests concerned in the manufacture of the loaf should cooperate ini bringing about a reduction in price. The conference in Christchurch has appointed a special committee to investigate the possibilities of a reduction in the price of bread through economies that have been proposed by the Government, and to follow the matter to its logical end the investigation should embrace all the factors that operate, from the farm to the consumer’s table. The organisation already set up should be capable of extension in such a manner as to deal adequately and definitely with a problem that is of so vital importance to the whole community.