WHEAT POOL PAYMENTS.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20316, 15 August 1931, Page 9

WHEAT POOL PAYMENTS.

1929 AND 1930 SEASONS. J v Tu his Chairman's Remarks' in the current issuo of the "Wheatgrower,' z Mr W. W. Mulholland, in reviewing tlio j services the association had rendered •tlioso engaged in tho industry in trie last two seasons, says that the Pool payments per bushel f.0.b., for I'uscan ] in 1929, ranged from 5s 3d ('.n March) ] to 5a 9d (in December), and in 1930 from 5s (in April) to 5s 5d (in Decernber). 1 "T)uring a part of this time, the i Pool's advances to growers involved j us in an overdraft of up to £400,000, observes tho chairman. "This amount of money could not have beon available *, to the growers had not this organisation , been functioning, and the amount of wheat which it represented must have , conic on the market as u surplus beyond the market's capacity to absorb. I am very moderate when I suggest that. *s ; per bushel less than what our members have so far received would have represented their returns. In this 190 l season the position would probably have been even worse, in spito oi ! the prospect that we will have just sufficient wheat for requirements, as tho difficulty in securing finance common to all those engaged in trading in produce would have mado it very difficult to dispose , of the wheat as if; becamo ready for delivery, while the desperate slate of the world's markets and the financial position of growers would havo forced the wheat on the market. It is difficult to say how low it might have gone. Difficult Marketing Position. "So far as the prospects for next s'car are concerned, there is certain to bo a difficult marketing situation—so difficult that the Directors did not feel that tho Association by itself was in a sufficiently strong position <o bo able to effectively deal with it without throwing an undue burden upon Us mtimbers. This, together with negotiations that have been ontored into with the Government, made it essential that some arrangement should be made, <f possible, with millers to meet 0.11 tho difficulties of the position. The millers appreciated the necessities of the situaion, and met us in a very reasonable manner, and after a great doal of consideration by a Joint Committee representative of them and ourselves, ft scheme has now reached a stage at which it can be submitted to the various parties and it will probably bo approved. It is hoped that it will adequately deal with the situation. This scheme may intolve a modification or even perhaps a withdrawal of tho present system of dealing with our members' wheat by pooling; but they will be notified in due course as to what changes are to take place. The 10S2 Acreage. "In dealing with the 1932 position, the latest information tends to confirm our previously-expressed opinion that from 290,000 to 300,000 acres of wheat are sown or intended to bo sown. T'ie area intended to be town might be slightly varied; but this is not likely U> have a very great effect, lis an unusually large proportion had already been sown when the returns were sent in. This, of course, was due to the excellent weather for getting on with the preparation and sowing which obtained throughout the autumn."