NEW ZEALAND WHEAT.

Evening Star, Issue 21633, 31 January 1934, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND WHEAT.

About a week ago a meeting of Auckland master bakers held a meeting and discussed the quality of New Zealand flour. The question arose through receipt of a letter from a baker who maintained that bakers were to-day obtaining from New Zealand wheat a poorer quality flour than they did forty years ago. It was, said the writer, impossible to make a “decent” loaf of bread without mixing with local flour a fair quantity of Canadian flour, the reason being the varieties of wheat grown in New Zealand and the method of harvesting it. Subsequent to the meeting the Master Bakers’ Association issued a statement to the effect that the New Zealand wheat grower, enjoying protection through the sliding scale Customs tariff on wheat and flour, was not giving tho New Zealand miller a fair chance of making the best flour. To secure the “ perfect ” loaf the miller would have to mix taxed overseas wheat with New Zealand wheat, or the baker would have to mix taxed overseas flour with New Zealand flour. The suggestion made was that to secure the “ perfect ” loaf without any increase in price the duty on overseas flour should be reduced to make it competitive with the New Zealand article.

In 1931 the Department of Industries and Commerce submitted to Parliament a report on the cost of the production and distribution of bread in New Zealand cities wherein it was stated that “ a number of bakers use Australian and Canadian flour in varying proportions. In the production of Vienna bread some bakers use as much as 50 per cent, of imported flour. In tho standard loaf the percentage of im r ported flour used varies from 16 to 20. In many instances bakers use only the New Zealand product.” Prior to this (in 1926) Mr L. D. Foster, M.Sc., a chemist on the staff of the New Zealand Department of Agriculture, read before the New Zealand Institute a paper on the quality of New Zealand wheats and.flours. Ho stated that “ on the whole New Zealand wheats are

good. . . . The scantiest regard has, however, been paid to the quality, or capacity to produce the best loaf of bread, of the different varieties favoured by wheat growers.” The milling tests he made showed a fairly wide variation in the percentage of flour produced ranging from 68 to 76 per cent. He concluded .that wheats of definitely good quality or bread making value can be grown' in New Zealand, and some of the varieties now grown produce on an average strong and medium-strong flours, especially in climatically suitable areas such as are to be found in Central Otago. As to methods of harvesting-, all that need be said is that wheat must “ sweat ” at one stage or another. According to the routine which adds to costs of wheat growing in New Zealand as compared with Australia, it is preferable to let the wheat sweat in the stack, say for three months. Wheat threshed from the stock and milled without an intervening interval will still sweat as flour, and bakers reject or avoid it. It may bo mentioned that shortly after the Auckland master bakers’ meeting the Auckland ‘ Star ’ published an editorial dealing with the disposal of the surplus wheat which resulted from last season’s abundant harvest, and endorsing the Prime Minister’s view that this country has gone too far in extending its wheat areas. The editorial continues:' “It is a costly policy, particularly in a time like the present, to produce more than can be consumed within the country, for the surplus has to be sold abroad at the world’s price, which means a heavy loss to New Zealand on every bushel shipped. For the past season the loss hiusd have amounted to nearly 2s 6d a bushel on the whole quantity exported, and it fell on the community as a whole, not upon the wheat grower, for he receives a guaranteed price. Ho is in a sheltered position, and is immune from the competition which producers generally have to meet. While the community is called upon to stand the cost of a guarantee of this kind, it should have some control over yield.” Auckland, we know, has never been sympathetic with the South Island cropping farmer’s interests, particularly since he, practically alone amoqg primary producers, pursues an industry sheltered from th© adverse

vagaries of world markets. Auckland, with its immense arid still increasing dairy production marketed at most disheartening prices, may be excused some feeling of dissatisfaction at .the contribution to wheat growing, which the whole community provides. Nevertheless, there is surely no desire to see any more forms of production reduced to a non-paying basis. Whether there will be after the coming harvest an exportable surplus is problematical. If there is, meeting the requirements of poultry-keepers at reasonable prices would seem preferable to accepting slump prices for export.