BREAD AND POLITICS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 248, 18 October 1924, Page 42 (Supplement)

BREAD AND POLITICS.

SPECULATION ABOUT WHEAT. , ■» THE PRE-ELECTION PROBLEM. (By Telegraph. —.Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. The symphony in the grain and produce markets is in a minor key. Business has fallen away, and there is uo demand for any class of produce that excites general interest, .-i. few tjpera-.; tors have sharpened anticipations on.' the possibilities of a pronounced scarcity of wheat. Fowl wheat is being quoted at the exceptional figure of 7/3, but, as an offset to interest developing, is the fact that there are hardly any parcels of grain to form the subject of a market attack. It is patent that wheat, possibly in large quantities, will have to be imported next year if trading then is free from Government interference. No doubt tangled situations will arise, but the big point exeroising , the minds of traders is the possible attitude of the Government. They know that the Government has found the wheat question something like «*e ■burden of the old man of the s<ea. It picked up a responsibility in the war period which up to now it has been unable to drop, but it is extremely, anxious to do so. Indeed, it is known that it had decided to go out of the wheat business next year, but events are shaping in a manner that may force it into the arena. Next year is election year, and, from a political point of view, a rise in the price of the loaf ds a thing to be avoided. The Government would be at a disadvantage if it faced the electors immediately after a jump in the price of bread, so there is always the chance that the Government will not give an entirely free market to wheat. No longer are potatoes the feature line and the mainstay of speculative interests on the market. Attention on the line has slumped. The nominal worth of potatoes is £6 5/ a tonf.o.b. si., but there is very little demand, while offerings from the country are meagre, most stocks in growers' hands having been cleaned up.