WHEAT PRICES.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19251, 5 March 1928, Page 10

WHEAT PRICES.

TO THE EDITOR O? THE PP.ESS. Sir,—ln the columns of your valuable journal a letter appears on the above subject from "Mrs Agricola." and anv person interested in the staple industries of our country reading it must feel sorry for the disappearance of the ladv's hopes—even if frocks are shorter ti>dav than in New Zealand's prosperous days nearly forgotten. •'Mrs Agricola" should not blame the poor agent for earning his commission, since he is only a necessary tool in the machine. The meeting referred to at Ashburton last year has not eventuated. or perhaps over-production has caused the slump? Once more the tiller of the soil has been compelled to sacrifice his hard earnings to appease the mortgage. Has '"Mrs Agricola" forgotten the orators at Ashburton that used such charmed tongues, and has she not learned where their interests lie? How can anyone expect more than he is reluctantly offered when there is no competition P If wheat costs onlv half what the farmer gets for it the' baker would get no reduction, for he has only one source to buy from. The duty imposed 011 Australian or Canadian wheat importation was a sop to the producer, but a very rich harvest for the seller of the manufactured article. "Mrs Agricola" should start a co-operative milling industry, and see the result, but she must try to keep it a farmers' industry and ,give the people the worth of their money.— Yours, etc., UNEMPLOYED. March 3rd, 1928.