THE BREAD PUZZLE STATE PURCHASES OF WHEAT

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 57, 9 March 1915, Page 8

THE BREAD PUZZLE STATE PURCHASES OF WHEAT

DOES FULL ADVANTAGE REACH THE CONSUMER? Amid all the complications of the breadstuffs question one fact stands out clear in the mind of the ordinary New Zealand' consumer— that, despite the Government's purchase and importation ' of wheat and flour, the price of bread has risen. Naturally, the consumer wants to know why. He reads that Government wheat recently landed in New Zealand i« now "Worth — owing to appreciation between the dates of buying and landing — a good many thousand pounds more than the price paid for it; and this is an apparent saving to the Government. But meanwhile bread has risen, and threatens to rise higher. Who is getting the benefit of the apparent saving 1 PRICE RELATIONS OF WHEAT AND FLOUR. Government importation of wheat and flour has .for its purpose the securing of a reasonable price for flour and bread. It must in fairness be added— and a good deal turns on this — that it does not follow that the price of bread should show 'no increase. If the Government has had to pay dear for its wheat, flour and bread must be dear. The real point is not whether the prices of flour and bread have risen, but whether they haye maintained a just proportion to the price of wheat. There is a, sliding-scale — variable no doubt in special circumstances, but generally correct — between - the prices of wheat, of flour, and of bread. For instance, it is generally held that a rise of £1 10s per ton in the price of flour justifies an increase of in the price of thu 41b loaf. It should therefore be possible, if no other element, of manufacture intervened, to base the values of flour an J bread on the cost of the wheat from which they were made. Given the prices paid by the flourmiller to the ' Government, the rates for flour and bread should be worked out to allow a fair profit to miller and baker, no more and no less.^ If this, were done, no one could - complain. Here, however, another "element of' manufacture" does oome in, and it shows what an elusive person the flourmiller can be. According to the original working out of costs, it was estimated that if the flourmiller was supplied with imported wheat at 5s 9d per bushel, ho could sell the flour — allowing a fair profit to himself — at £14 10s a ton. But the flourmiller seems to have found that, ' to secure the grade of flour he wanted, he would have to mix a proportion of^he dearer New Zealand wheat with the cheaper imported grain. Of course, the introduction, of a more costly element of manufacture at once upsets the calculation. If the more costly element came into the process in a fixed proportion, the calculation would still bo adjustable. But the proportion of the New Zealand to the imported grain appears to be variable, and the issue is thus, to the Jay mind, clouded. NOT SIMPLE ARITHMETIC. The calculation" covering cost of wheat and price of flour and bread is thus removed from the^ sphere of simple arithmetic, and the curiosity of the consumer, in a matter that vitally concerns him, is more or less baffled. It has been stated that the Government has obtained written assurances, from '•millers using imported Government wheat, that the price of flour will be regulated as fairly as possible by the cost of tho wheat. It is to be hoped, however, that the Government's supervision does not cease at assurances. A strict account should be kept of all wheat purchased by _ the State, the prices, what became of it, and the prices of flour and bread manufactured, or partly manufactured, from it. Surely it is possible, despite complexities of manufacture, foi the Governmental authorities to follow up the product and see that its price bears some relation to' the cost of the basic raw material. Can this be »aid, of all the flour im ported by the State or made from State wheat? There are current impressions to the contrary, and there is room for a reassuring statement by the Governmental authorities. If, in spite of the prices of flour and bread, it is nevertheless true that, tho consumer is getting the full advantage of the State purchases, then the -authorities should bo able to quote specimen lines to prove the fact. The onus of proof is undoubtedly on the authorities. Outside of the interested tradesmen and middlemen, the authorities alone are in a position to know. And, of course, they are ,the custodians of the public interest. MAY BE HIT AT BOTH ENDS. In some cases, State wheat has been sold to flourmillers at a loss, which falls Upon the people. If the people also pay an excessive price for flour or for breaa, they are hit af both ends. Latei; shipments of, wheat have no doubt cost more than earlier ones. The accounting may be a complicated operation, but it is one that calls for the utmost publicity and the most careful probing. Compared with what has happened in Australia, the Government's foodstuffs campaign lias been lacking in publicity. New Zealand and New Sonth Wales both attempted to fix by proclamation the prices of wheat and flour. In our case this was a failure, and the Government's second string was to regulate 'prices by means of State purchases oversea. This is a most interesting and im-' portant experiment, and the public are allowed to know very little of the inner working of it. In New South Wales the various official investigations into the post of living and the prices of commodities have been carried on in public, and through the press reports the people have been educated and informed. New Zealand might with advantage have done likewise.