WHEAT PILING UP

Grey River Argus, 31 July 1940, Page 10

WHEAT PILING UP

Lack of Shipping BIG PROBLEM FOR AUSTRALIA. SYDNEY, July. 3. With an exportable surplus this season of 160,000,000 bushels, Australia has managed to get only 33,000 000 bushels of wheat overseas. With seven months of the export season already gone, there will be a serious storace problem to face. Sales have totalled 115,000,000 bushels out of the 195,000,000 bushels available for export, but 82,000,000 bushels of the sold wheat remains to be shipped, including most of tho 55,000,000 bushels sold to Britain. “We would like to have seen the parcel purchased by the United Kingdom taken overseas, but the problem ot finding shipping space for wheat is still a difficult one, and heavy demands are being made on our storage facilities,” said the Minister ot Commerce (Mr Cameron). An announcement by the Fedeia. Government that it has decided to shelve a plan to build tramp tonnage is surprising in the circumstances. Such tramp steamers are mainly used in the carriage of wheat. A plan propounded by a Federal official proved the practicability of building steamers in Australia of 8,000 tons with a speed of not less than 12 knots—a type exactly needed to take the huge stocks of stored wheat. The steamei s were expected to cost £400,000 each. The Government’s decision was based on its belief that all finance, material, and men available for shipbuilding should be devoted to the construction of naval vessels. Already Australia has contracted to build 13 raval patrol vessels for Britain.