THE WHEAT PROBLEM.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 21, 24 January 1917, Page 9

THE WHEAT PROBLEM.

Wii>"GAXUI FLOUR MILL CLOSED' DOWX. I (From Our Oivu Correspondent.) WAXGAXUI, this day. Matters in connection with the wheat problem arc so unsatisfactory that the southern C'ro»s Roller Mill at Wanganui has cXoSod down until a definite price for wheat iiiis been fixed. This step lias been deemed necessary, a≤ at the- present time the. 'miller really does not know here lie "stands. -It appears that large quantities ot wheat, two years old, are now being oli'ered, supplies of which were undoubtedly held by farmers for speculative purposes, but in view of losses occasioned uy rati. cost of insurance, etc., combined with the probability oi a maximum price I being iix«?d by the Government, holders of I stocKS are now anxious to quit, fully realising as they do that dream prices anticipated are not going to materialise. . Mr- Caiman, manager of the local mills, ■when questioned, admitted the unsatisfactory state of the business, and he stressed the fact that it was not the millers, but the farmers who had been guilty of storing up stocks of wheat. He considers that the most effective way of relieving the position in the fussye, and putting food supplies on a better.basis, would be for the Government to legislate, making it compulsory for a farmer having suitable land for wheat-growing, to put down a certain area in crop, or else . for the State to take over suitable but uncultivated land, and lay it down in ' wheat. By this means the Dominion requirements would not only be fully met, but there would be sufficient for export. This-aspect, he says, is worthy of every consideration.