WHEAT DUTIES.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20624, 13 August 1932, Page 11

WHEAT DUTIES.

TO THE LDITOB OS TUX r-Rtis-s, Sir,—l am not surprised that Mr Morris, on finding that his statements will not bear analysis, should accuso rue of misquoting him. liis procedure, however, lacks originality, iu calculating thb price of wheat to tho grower, I excluded Id per Bushel brokerage, which is a trading percentage. That leaves another 4b ~d still unaccounted for to amount to Mr Morris's alleged overcharge of £1,660,000. If tho brokers are getting away with that they are quite capable of defending themselves, and 1 leave them to your correspondent's tender mercies. I cannot understand why Mr Morris should misquote mo in saying that "I inform him that tho wheatgrower is not getting the benefit of the wheat duties." I asserted that tho grower was not getting tho bftnefit from Mr Morris's fictitious overcharge of £1,5(30,000. My reason for saying so is that I do not believe that any such overcharge exists, and that 1 do not consider that Mr Morris has any reasonable grounds for making such a ridiculous exaggeration. Referring to bran and pollard, 1 cannot see what could be gained by anv agreement between the growers mid tho millers in this country, as tho price is governed by the export price in Australia at present. To have the alleged effect, the agreement must emanate from there. If that is correct, the consumer cannot afford to ignore tho possibility of the same thing occurring on a free flour mar'ket.—Yours, etc.. D. M. CHRISTIE. Mt. Ilutt, llakaia, August 11th, 1932

TO IBK EDTTOU OF THE Par.SS. Sir, —Your correspondent, E. Morns, on the above subject, is surely wide of the mark when he estimates the "extra" cost per head at about fivepence per week owing to the duty. 1 hold receipts for my last year's bread bill—June to June—lor a lamily of two adults, which works out at exactly fivepeuce halfpenny each per week. Compared with meat, milk, fuel, clothing, or rates, bread is easily and by far t,hc cheapest article used m the family, and I never could understand why folk complain about its cost, and remain silent about all other necessaries. However, I notice that the criticism comes from "Wellington. North versus South probably explains it. We hear no complaints about the price of beer or cigarettes, but the poor wheatrgrower iB fair gam© for

some townsfolk, who should think a bit harder and-take the Gove r norGeneral's advice, and "Work till «ie clouds roll by."—Yours, etc., CONSISTENT. August 12th. 19*2.