WORLD WHEAT CONFERENCE

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25734, 21 February 1949, Page 7

WORLD WHEAT CONFERENCE

ARGENTINA DECIDES TO WITHDRAW DISSATISFACTION WITH PRICE SCALES (Bee. 8 p.m.). WASHINGTON, Feb. 18. An Argentine Embassy spokesman said that Argentina would withdraw from the 56 nation International Wheat Conference to-day. The conference has been in session since January 26. Dr. Juan Scaparti, leader of the Argentine delegation to the conference, said Argentina was withdrawing because of the price scales that would doubtless be written into an agreement. He said that even the maximum price contemplated would not. be enough—after allowing for the usual differentials—to cover the price the Argentine Government was now paying Argentine producers. He explained that the Government was the sole wheat purchaser in Argentina, and was paying 185 cents a bushel. Under the 1948 world agreement, which never came into force, the maximum price was to have been two dollars a bushel, and it was certain that if any new agreement were signed, the maximum would be considerably lower.

War Criminals Sentenced.—The Philippines War Crimes Commission to-day sentenced 14 former members of the Japanese Navy to death by hanging for atrocities committed in the Philippines, during the war. The trial, which had lasted 113 days, was the longest war crimes trial held in the Philippines. The sentences are subject to review.—Manila, Feb. 19.