STATEMENTS ON WHEAT PRICE

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33454, 8 February 1974, Page 8

STATEMENTS ON WHEAT PRICE

Statements attributed to him in ‘'The Press” on Wednesday had been incorrectly reported, Mr G. E. .1. Hutton, a member of the agriculture section executive of North Canterbury Federated Farmers, said yesterday.

I He was referring to a report of an executive meeting discussion on the price of wheat which contained two errors. i Mr Hutton had been quoted as saying that projected gross return figures for average wheat yields, on which the wheat price had been based, were a lie. What he did say was that using gross return figures as a standard often gave an incorrect answer and sometimes a ridiculous one. “I made no criticism of the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Moyle) but had questioned the advisability of using gross margins as a measuring stick when these can give an anomalous answer. The only i reference to Mr Moyle was I that he had introduced gross] return figures to the issue,”! Mr Hutton said last evening.] Mr Hutton had also been! reported as asking where in! Canterbury could be found] land yielding 60 bushels to] the acre, the figure used as'

(the basis of the gross return (calculations. “That is not what I said. (Sixty bushels is exceeded ■ frequently in Canterbury; I have myself four or five (times. What I did say was 'that 60 bushels was not a (realistic figure for a base because a base should be the average. “Figures released by both the Agriculture Department and the Department of Statistics show that neither the Canterbury average yield, nor | the national average, have preached 60 bushels, although this is exceeded in individual cases,” said Mr Hutton.