MORE WHEAT REQUIRED

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22083, 4 May 1937, Page 13

MORE WHEAT REQUIRED

> TO TU» RDITOB OV THE PREHH + u Si £ ,— !V o . ur editorial, and letters on the declining acreage of wheat prompt me to draw attention to the opportunist wheatgrower as distinct from the con- , sistent wheatgrower who, as far as climate and other conditions allow, i follows a crop "rotation with little acreage variation. When lamb and wool slumped gome years ago "the wheat pool" was seriously embarrassed in its attempt to stabilise prices, by many large landowners suddenly throuing into wheat production areas of from 200 to 600 acres of good land. To-day the Government and Wheat Committee are further embarrassed by these same men withdrawing from wheat in favour of lamb and wool. We may soon be hearing some more about a New Zealand lamb and mutton quota owing to increased lamb production, and a return to wheat by those who now are responsible for the decreased acreage. The point is: will the Wheat Committee and the Government remember the grower who is acceding to thrir wishes to-day to grow more wheat, when the day of surplus production of wheat arrives owing to the return of the opportunist grower? The Minister for Commerce and Industries has, I belfeve, the power to declare any Industry a "licensed industry," and make it unlawful to produce specified goods except by licence. The Minister has also stated "that wherever the Government is giving assistance to an industry (note the sliding scale of duties) the Government has a duty to exercise supervision over that industry in the public interest. As freezing works, dairy factories, breweries, and many other interests now work under licence, clearly, the wheatgrower, if for no other reason than protection from himself, can expect more and not less State interference. If overproduction of wheat in New Zealand occurs again, because of thr- reasons I have stated, can the consistent grower expect any preference or consideration?— Yours, etc., CROSS SEVEN. Eakaia. May 3, 1937.

TO THB KDITOB Or THS PRRS3.

Sir,—Why does not Mr Sullivan say straight out what the price of wheat Is to be this coming year, for In the interval growers all over the country are selling their horses and plant, and once a man gives up wheat growing, he stays out. It is no use Mr Sullivan saying that the wheatgrowers will be reimbursed for any increased cost they may be put to on account of higher wages, for this means that starting with an unpayable price, we are simply to have our own money handed back to us. What we want is to make a little profit out of the business after doing all the hard work and taking all the risks. There is one thing the Minister can place to his credit, and that fs, he has in 18 short" months destroyed an industry which has been going for 80 years or more. It looks as though Mr SuUiyan is Just trying to jockey, "trie growers into a false position and then turn round and say, "Oh well, if yOu farrrtets refuse to grow enough wheat for our own use, we will remove all duties and resections on its importation." Let Mr Sullivan give us a fair deal and we will grow all the wheat required for 1938-39, for it is too late for this 1937-38 season, many of us having, after waiting for months for his decision regarding the price, gone in for sheep. The mess the Government has made of the onion industry seems to be just about on a par with that of wheat growing.—-Yours, etc 50 YEARS A WHEATGROWER. April 30, 1937.