THE COST OF LIVIING.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 254, 24 October 1907, Page 3

THE COST OF LIVIING.

AN ALL-ROUND ADVANCE.

" Prices are advancing all round," fitly explains the position of the markets in New Zealand at the present time. Reference to the commercial article in this issue will show some really- sharp advances in the price of most farm produce. Oats have risen to the remarkably high figure of over 4/ ex store, and stocks are still so short for the time yet to go, that it is not safe to say top prices have been touched. Naturally maize has followed suit, and is now quoted at 4/2, while fowl wheat is up to the hitherto unheard price of 6/2 per bushel, ex store, while -millirig wheat is now quoted at about 5/10 to 6/ f.o.b. in the South. Unfortunately chaff is another very -dear line, being now quoted at £7 10/ to £7 15/ per ton. Bran, is £5 12/6, and sharps £6 1/6. It will Thus be evident that the cost of feeding •horses is a serious matter at the -present time. Just the same foodstuffs are rising. The continued dry weather in Australia is having the effect' of putting up the price of tbe goods imported from the Commonwealth. For instance, potatoes advanced £ 2 per ton in Sydney, with the result that shipments bought for Auckland were sold in New South Wales at the advance. The result now is that potatoes here have risen to £7 10/ per ton for New Zealand grown, and £8 for Tasmanian redskins, as compared with "£5 10/ to £6 a'lortnight ago. Onion 3 also advanced because all local supplies are now drawn from Victoria, and a rise of £3 per ton took place there during the week. The natural result is that here onions are now quoted at 12/<J per cwt. and for delivery next week 13/6. ~~~ THE PRICE OF BREAD. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. In the House of Representatives yesterday several members brought under the Premier's notice the high price of bread, asking when the proposed legislation in regard to wheat and flour duties is to be brought down. "The importance of the whole subject is fully recognised," stated the Premier in reply. "The world's wheat market is abnormally high, and is the governing factor at present in the regrettable high prices that are ruling for bread. Legislation, as promised by mc, will be brought down at an early date." DUNEDIN WHEAT MARKET. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, Wednesday. Wheat continues firm, but the quantity offering is limited, and business does not amount to much. Prime milling is quoted at 5/7 to 5/9; medium and whole fowl wheat, 5/4 to 5/6; broken and inferior, 4/10 to 5/2 per bushel (sacks extra). (Received October 24, 1 a.m.) SYDNEY, October 23. The closing quotations for wheat this afternoon was 5/9. Pollard , and bran are quoted at 1/10. MELBOURNE, October 23. Wheat is quoted at 5/5 and flour at* £11 15/. ADELAIDE, October 23. For wheat to-day 5/1 is asked, and for flour £11. THE AMERICAN MARKET. GROWERS COMBINE. According to a correspondent of the "Melbourne Leader," the crop in the States is largely controlled this season by a combination of the big growers of the_ grain-growing areas. In June a conference was held at Omaha under the auspices of the Grain Growers' Department of the American Society of Equity, when plans for the 1907 campaign were perfected. The key position in these plans is a written pledge by the growers, forwarded to the central association, promising to withhold selling below the dollar a bushel minimum fixed by the association. Each week the executive body receives acreage pledges from the wheat areas stretching from Oklahoma in the south to North Dakota, the latter State being in the lead. Within a period of two weeks North Dakota wheat growers representing over 500,000 acres pledged themselves to hold their produce up to the association's minimum price; and North Dakota, with its vast wheat area, is recognised' as the most important State in the campaign. The minimum price for the 1907 crop has not yet (15th July) been fixed. When an early estimate of a normal crop of 700,000,000 bushels was reckoned upon some months ago, the dollar minimum was considered a fair price to claim, but the later conditions have materially altered the point of view. A pronounced shortage is now certain of at least 100,000,000 bushels in the United States, and fully 20,000,000 bushels in Canada. It will now be interesting to watch the policy of the American wheat growers this year. If they hold their wheat for a minimum they are in a position to dictate the price of the crop higher even than the dollar limit. In some quarters derision has greeted the movement of the producers to control the market, but it i sadmitted that a number of wise "ones on the Chicago Board of Trade are doing some serious thinking. Speculators who watch tbe signs of the times realise that the wheat grower is in a better position to dictate the price of his product than ever before, owing to the close adjustment of the supply in other parts of the world. This is an extract from the latest announcement of the association: —"It has cost tho growers as much to raise the short crop of this year as the bumper one of 1900, which amounted to 765,000,000 bushels, and we have the same capital invested. Therefore in common with other branches of commerce, we are entitled to as much return for the same expenditure of labour and investment and' capital. We stand for an equitable price, based on known conditions, and these at present justify lidol. (5/2 i) per bushel. The association holds its next conference early in October. What minimum price the October convention will fix will depend wholly on the appearance of the spring wheat crop. According to the conditions, the minimum price may then be in excess of ljdol." j

The progress of this American association of wheat growers will no doubt be watched with keen interest by every producer in Australia. The American crop is large enough even now to exercise a considerable influence upon the breadstuffs supply of the world; while, with organisation, it cannot help having that influence very largely increased.