WHEAT SHORTAGE

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 74, 25 September 1917, Page 8

WHEAT SHORTAGE

PROSPECTS NOT TOO GOOD

WAITING FOR SHIPPING.

The position in regard to the supply oE wheat for the Dominion was the subject of an interview between a Post reporter and the Minister of Commerce (Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald) this afternoon.

The Minister stated that some-of tliu mills had closed down, and there really was a shortage, both in the South Island and the North Island. But he added that there was a considerable amount of Hour at the different ports of New 'Zealand, and, from an economical point o£ view, it did not appear that there would bo any particular benefit in distributingwheat for milling purposes. The'trouble arose through the industrial disturbances in Australia,; and until those were at an end there would be no possibility of getting wheat from the other side-

There appeared, .he said, to'be a good deal of wheat in Canterbury—sufficient, as far as information was received, to keep that district going until the end of the year. The chief difficulty would be Dunedin, Oamaru, Bluff, iPalmerston North, and Auckland. Although some mills might have been shut down, there was no anxiety at present in regard to the supply of wheat and flour.

"Our agents in Australia advise us," said the Minister, " that there is a. possibility of loading wheat for New Zealand either in Sydney or Melbourne or Adelaide." There is no prospect of any shipment arriving for a week or so. Nothing definite can be stated until the industrial troubles in Australia are settled.

"There will certainly be ■ a shortage of wheat at the end of the year if ..we cannot get supplies from Australia. It. all depends on the termination of the strike and the consequent supply d! shipping." ' ( • The Minister was reminded of the ■fact that some days ago.Mr. G. Witty, Ivt.P. for Riccarion, asked him a ques tion as to the distribution of supplies among the millers. In answer, he said that the millers as a whole must have plenty of flour in stock that they could not get rid of. As to those who held large stocks of wheat—well, they had simply bought ahead. If the Government took the flour from these mil.'s: it. would have to pay the full' rate, 5s lOd per bushel, the price fixed in August; then they would have to pay charger, for transit and distribution, which'would bring the price up to something over,6s a bushel. That wonld mean an incrpisa in the cost of the loaf. The mere tact of one or two mills closing down did l ot affect the position. As a matter of .fact the big mills could keep three shifts going and make flour at 10s a ton cheaper than if they only ran one or two shifts.

The Board of .Trade, it is understood, is proceeding to Canterbury to-night to investigate the position.