MARKETING OF WHEAT

Evening Star, Issue 19175, 16 February 1926, Page 2

MARKETING OF WHEAT

REGULATING AND STABILISING

CONFERENCE IN AMERICA

Press Association—By Telegraph— Copyright

OTTAWA, February 14. The arrival at Winnipeg of Messrs M'Donald and Reesdale, the Australian delegates, en route to the Wheat Conference at St. Paul, Minnesota, has revived the discussion in Winnipeg regarding th'- -roblcms which the wheal producers of the world face in their effort to secure the stabilisation ot the markets. It is pointed out, on the basis of Mr H. C. Hoover’s prediction, that within five years the United States will consume her own production of wheat. The world’s greatest wheatgrowers will be Canada, Australia, and Argentina, and any effort of the two first named to establish a system for the regulation of wheat production into even channels of supply would, through economic weight, assure the adherence of the third country. Those in close touch with the wheat markets favor plans based on principles somewhat similar to the Stevenson rubber scheme. They insist that a world pool would not be created for the purpose of raising prices to exorbitant levels. They point out that ten years of wheat prices at 125 or 150 cents a bushel is preferable to eight years at 2dol, interlarded with a year at 95 cents and a year at 83 cents. They stress the fact that an even price tends to stability. Mr M'Donald, commenting on the situation as it concerns Australia and Canada, said: “We wish to prevent selling in opposition to one another, and to form an organisation which will make a survey of the world’s markets, so that circumstances adverse to the good of the producer can be avoided. It is the desire of the promoters of this system to bo able to feed grain to the markets of the world when it is demanded without a cut-throat system of competition.” Mr M'Donald acknowledged that Canada’s pool system was better organised than Australia’s, and intimated that it was desirable that the Australian pool should supervise a greater portion of the supply of wheat. After attending the conference at St. Paul’s Mr_ M'Donald intends to make an intensive study of the North American pool system.—A. and N.Z. Cable.