THE WHEAT QUESTION.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19286, 16 April 1928, Page 10

THE WHEAT QUESTION.

TO IBS EDITOR 0» THE PBBS3. I i Sir,—As a wheat-grower for the tost ; 20 years I have followed with interest ■ the various phases of this vexed subject with as much concern as one might expect from a "Chawbacon." When the Prime Minister (as "The. man,who gets things done") visited us last year, and at two huge meetings listened to-the rights ana wjoiigs of the business,' I", for one, that we were at last getting somewhere. Then came the Sliding Scale of Duties and of course I thought the millennium had arrived, and six bob on trucks was a "cert;" so naturally I spent the money! 1 remember there were some fellows who had the audacity to suggest that the new duties would be a godsend to the millers, but that the wheat-cockey would still get it in the neckl But I reckoned these croakers were only born "grousers" and didn't know nothink! But as harvest grew near it began to dawn on us that the six bob wasn't stickin' out quite so far as it had been, and so we held the "umpteenth" meeting'at Ashburton in December and everybody spoke, and did nothing else, and the hot air production- beat m! former records. In the bustle of scrambling to catch our, respective-, trains eignt good men and true were appointed a committee to get the six bob! That committee has met several times since and after each meeting it has issued a high-falutin communique telling us not to sell our wheat for less than six bob 1 But how can we get six bob? Any ordinary fool can see that if there was only one seller of wheat, and his price was 6s, then the millers would either have to give that price or go without. Personally, I'm rather inclined to think they would go without, because I'm not at all certain that it is possible to give 6s oh trucks for Tuscan wheat and make a profit of selling v the flour at the current price. But whether it is or not does not affect the fact that it is absolutely essential that the wheat-growers must organise themselves effectively or the industry will most certainly break down. The Government introduced the sliding scale of duties solely for the benefit of the grower and, owing to the peculiar lack of initiative and power to avail themselves of the advantages to be derived from the tariff, the growers are allowing the millers to exploit the position in the way that seems best to them. And they cannot possibly be blamed for "doing so. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and surely the elected wheat committee could emulate the millers and form a Wheat Distributors, Ltd. We have been informed on pretty reliable authority , that various schemes have been put forward for the consideration of the ■ committee, all with the view of organising the growers, but the committee seem just to sit and think, and most of the time thev nist sit! Rangiora growers have apparently lost all patience and have formed some sort of an association, but this method of procedure is bound to end in failure because of its isolation. Any scheme ! must be representative of the whole the growers, and the Wheat Committee is unauestionablv the proper and i dulv constituted body to launch an organisation.—Yours, etc.. DREADNOUGHT. April Hth. 1928.