STATE TRADING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 21 September 1938, Page 10

STATE TRADING.

The State has interfered with th* marketing of product in this country to the very serious disadvantage of the ultimate purchaser. An article on another page gives details of some of the many ways in which the consumer is being made a target, and it also indicates how hopelessly the State becomes involved in difficulties when it interferes with highly specialised methods of purchase and distribution of produce. Wheat market regulation has been in operation for a number of years now, with the object of protecting the grower in the South Island, but with a year of shortage here and big supplies overseas a position has been reached in which the Government is actually making a huge profit out of the staple food supply of the people. It buys wheat in Australia at 2/9 a bushel and lands it here for about 3/9 i. But the miller has to pay 6/4 a bushel, and thus to make a profit for the Government the price of bread is held at a high figure, the poultry breeder has to pay an exorbitant price for his supplies, and the grower is still left disgruntled. "In the onion market, too, control has had an adverse effect on the consumer. The Government has stepped in to limit supplies and has purchased at not more than £6 10/ a ton. But the merchant has to pay nearly double that price, and the housewife is paying threepence a pound for onions landed by the Government at about a penny.