WHEAT AND FLOUR.

Press, Volume L, Issue 15120, 9 November 1914, Page 3

WHEAT AND FLOUR.

STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER.

IHE POSITION REVICWI:*!)

'"Pr.F.S< ASSOCIATION 7KU;C.n.\M.I WELLINGTON.. November 5. file follow in*** resardinz the* prico of *vhc;r.. ancl flour in Noir Zealiind hx< ><0.-t: made by the Prime Minister r''Tho facts scon: -.<> he misunderstood in some fjiinrtc-rs. l-'jrst of a!!,

it ;.s ncce-Miry to remind the pub'.e that j t'nerc is no par.d!..-!. t .-> ]n r .i. the supply jol wheat and Hour j.- concerned., bean con New Zealand and Australia. For j example. ,*i ciilih- nies.-ago from Sydney ! on November 4t';i stated in ihe Legislative Assembly the Attorney-General . said that reports indicated that New j South Wales will have efficient wheat ;to carry her through to dm-, year, and | provide- socl for t he follor/ing rrqi. !Tn Australia there is more than snffijciem- for the present year. bri-. owing .to :n,- drct-yii'. which pro vailed over : most of the Coinmonv\oaiih until a i'mv j week, ago, ,". jv t . X p r . f .- w * l \, ir lhe ; present crop will l, c very much below j the avorage. ;in< j Australia j< providing j ior a considerable short a-e ilex', v. ar. /Ill,* real tro.jM,, j„ x,,, v Zealand is ,tliau thero is undoubted! v a £ }- orl 'i"e >f wheat for tlio present "year. tha:.°« \U> say. that the supply on hand will yiiofc hist until the- „ ou - ~,<,„ ;> .„.„*._ ja'do. What tho Government ] Kls been : doing to remedy tho diflicultv is this: When r. hcr-aine obvious ..hat there might 1.0 a deficiency, the l',i llU > Min-i.-ter telegraphed to A-1-.fralia au authority u> purchase 2-».oa'> bu>heL on behalf <lf tl „ ? X ,-w Zealand Governmeiit, but just- at this time the Australians became alive to the position in which they stood, and the price of v-heni, and, oonswiueiitiv, flour, went up with .1 bound, la conseijuoino, those who were acting for us in Australia wore only able (o purch.-i.se -(-j.dOO bushels. 'Ihe next .step was the aj>pointment of a Commission in the sam- 4 way ihat was done in Australia to make recommendations v.jth regard to food prices. Their lir.si. recommendation was_that wheat in New Zealand should be os :»d per bushel, and flour JL'l'j per ton. Beiore this could be acted upon, however, the Commission mot again and reconsidered tlie position, with the result that their .second recommendation was that wheat- should be Is Ud per bushel, and flour I'll 15* per ton. Ai'tor being given a few weeks' trial, these pnecu were found to bo unworkable, and tho Commission again met., but could not make a unanimous recommendation as to the price* of wheat and flour. The opinions of the several members of the Commission were forwarded to the Government, and tlio Government went back fo r,he first recommendation of the Commission making wheat ">s .'id a bushel and flour £13 a ton. These are the prices at which they stand to-day at the throe distributing centres, viz., Onmni-u, Timaru, and Lyttelton.

'It should also bo staged herp that tho Primo Minister, during tlio early ciays ot the war, seeing that there would be a difficulty in" regard to tho supply of .foodstuffs, and being anxious that' New Zealand should siipplv its requirements, annealed to the "fanners throughout tho Dominion who hail land suitable for growing cereals, espocially wheat. to grow as much as they pos*sibly could. The result in the ivheatgrowing districts wa.s very "satisfactory, and a considerable aroa'wii."; sown in wheat in addition lo what was originally intended by farmer**. . - This, of course, w very satisfactory from the point of view of supplies for the coming year. Unfortunately, the season up to tho present lias not been favourable, owing to insufficient rainfall, and ■n consequence., tho crops will probably bo below iho average per acre. "Having ascertained by careful enI quiry by tho Agricultural aud Com- \ merce Departments that thero was not a sufficient supply for tho present year, tho Primo Minister communicated by ti-lerrr-aph with J -ho Governments of Australia, Canada, and India, as to tho possibility of obtaining shipments of wheat or flour from those countries. Tho result up to the present has been the placing of an order in Canada for 150,000 bushels of wheat. Tho Indian Governmeni has also in'.iinated its willingness to supply 250,000 bushels, if required. Tlio Australian Government, however, being afraid of a shortage iv their own country, havo not; up .to tho present, intimated their willingness to supply what has been asked for, but they havo taken off the restrictions so"far as contracts for the supply of wheat and flour mado beforo the declaration of" war was concerned.,. This is a very important concession, and considerable quantities of both articles are, in consequence, being forwarded by tho Commonwealth to this country. Tho Government- have also removed the duty on importations of wheat and flour from October 21st until

tlio new crop in tho Dominion is available. . .. ~ "The abovo is a summary ot H lO | position-up to the present, and it w.ll be seen that the Government havo done everything possible to meet the emcrgoncv which has arisen, and it is an unquestionable truth that tho country is depending for part ot its requirements on outside sources, the prico of such requirements must depend to a very great extent upon the price at which tliov are imported. '