THE STAFF OF LIFE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 18, 16 October 1907, Page 7

THE STAFF OF LIFE.

• FLOUR £13 PER .TON F. 0.8. THE POSITION EXPLAINED. :, that flour has'advanced still another 20s. per ton is , fraught with interest to everybody,' from the highest to tho lowliest. Whatever happens to tho economics of a country tho prico of flour, which) /of jCpurio, is'bread, in embryo, is of prime importances, unless, one wanders to the East/' where rice supplants tho product of wheat as tho first of staple foods. But tho \rhito man demands bread, and will have bread even if ho has to r resort to force, as in instances not unknown to history. Living in prosperous times in a prosperous country, the matter of an extra £1 per ton for flour does not' ■create; much.alarnvbut-.it comes home to tho. housekeeper,;.of-.restricted means when the price of the 21b. loaf is 4d., and a further riso of flour.follows that rise.

Rise jiv drifts. '... '..'...': '.'...'"' ' A Dominion: representative, desiring- to • kiiow'''>jiist ■ how' mattors 'stood,- ' called on Messrs. D. W. Virtue and Co. '(representing the. Flpurmillers,' Association) yesterday. In reply to 'a question, lie'Was'informed that thq;;tclcgraphic Press messago of a further . rise | wag correct, and, that. flour (in. sacks) per; ton f.0.1j. in the South, which meant', about £13 15s. to Wellington bakers, and flour, dealers. Mr. Virtuo said thatihe price i of" flour was as high in Now Zealand about six years ago, but could not say' '.whether" it' would continue • to' advance. H.'alr.dopended "oil" the' prico ,of wheat, .which;: iivjtufiVj'.was influenced by the state of the. world's markets. Another contributing cause might bo the drought in Australia, Which' , , would probably affect the crops this season.,-,The^prico)of chaff,'was .also advancing. x A,, fe'it weeks ago chaff-was being invported in bales from Australia; but all that was stopped—presumably owing to tho continuence of tho drought, lvhich Vas stunting: f the/,crops. It was/alsp.v noticeable that the'pVico of'potatoes was. firmilig. ;; A -farmer he knew in tho Hutt had sown some timo ago to get an early crop, but-owing to the wot,,- Weather and tho,.slow. advance,, tho season, he had discovered -that the; seed was ,rottingin tho ground! \ : "Iv suppose the- public'will be blaming tho Association ior this, next," said Mr. Virtuo, ; referring: lightly'"jo '.the pbtato. l 'Wo : frcro ifesponSibhKfor. tlio :.potato blight, according to someono! ..'•'■■" " ■■ ■' : ;.:;;' A Baiier Interviewed. ' The Master ■ Bakers Association recently raised tho prico of the 2lb. loaf to 4d., as all careful peoplp-.know. So.far.no movo has. been made by the Association to consider making a further rise. The only firm of! bakers that did not raisb.tho prico of , bread

was the Wellingtqiv' Broad Company,* thb iai'gest bread-making firm in Wellington, possibly in N6w Zealand. Having a notion that

riSo would shift tho Company,, a reporter called on -Mf. Tonks yqsterday to enquire Ho found that imperturbable baker quite determined to keep on selling the 21b. loaf at 3\d, though flour had risen £1 sineo other" Wellington bakers had put.up the price to 4d.

Mr. Tohks stated quite frankly that ho did not want to bo talked about at all—he

was i'not a philanthropist—and if ho were placed in tho saino position ho would bo charging the samo prico for broad as they were. Thoy wore not to blaino—there Was nothing in broad at 3jd. a loaf with flour at £13 per ton. How did he do it than? was

the natural query. -. Ho explained that ho was Wβ owu miller —ground his own wheat on tho promises, and ho escorted tho reporter

through threo large bakehouses; (containing fivo ovens in all) to h. store stacked to tho roof with sacks of. wheat bought before tho riso. Tho Company had moro stbred down South. They wort) simply giving tho public

tho boncfit of having so purchased, instead of raising tho prico in-sympathy with tho prico of-flour they had not had occasion to buy. Mr. Tonks did not believo in putting up the prico of bread hastily, as no ono know that the increased prico would hold, and all of'thoso 1 who had ''raised" had not, so far, had to pay. tho higher figure for flour.