PRICE TOO HIGH

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22313, 24 April 1947, Page 5

PRICE TOO HIGH

.WHEAT SUPPLIES SENSATIONAL MOVE STABILISATION OPPOSED ,(10.15 a.m.) LONDON, April 23. An announcement by Sir Herbert Broadley, of the United Kingdom delegation to the international wheat conference, that Britain was unable to associate herself with an international agreement for stabilising world wheat supplies and prices caused a sensation at the plenary session to-day. , Sir Herbert said: “We regard certain prices as excessive. The United Kingdom seeks a price which is fair to the : producer and consumer alike.” Check to Price Reduction He added that he felt the scheme proposed in the agreement did not enable the price to come down to a reasonable figure quickly enough. Britain was in complete accord with the general plan. It was only prices upon which Britain could not agree. "The United Kingdom played a considerable part in shaping the agreement. In fact, in many ways we regard it as a model agreement for the future commodity arrangements. It preserves an oportunity for freedom of trade so -’that the price finds its own level.” Sir Hubert said the United Kingdom could not afford to pay excessive prices for its imports. A reduction of the costs of imports was a corollary to an expansion in the volume of Britain’s . exports. j’' Lower Prices Essential “The world must face much lower prices for wheat than those which rule at present, but we want to see those lower prices achieved in a manner which protects the producer against hardship and enables such switches as are necessary to other forms of agriculture to be made without serious dislocation and disaster.” The conference unanimously adopted the United States proposal to hand over the draft document to the International Wheat Council at the earliest possible date, and at the same time to invite other countries not at present members to join .the council to participate in future discussions.