WHEAT SUPPLY QUESTION

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 3 December 1914, Page 5

WHEAT SUPPLY QUESTION

FT> ' VNATIONS AND SUGGEST- *^ • lONS.

CONFUSION' IN AUSTRALIAN MARKET. SYDNEY, Dec 2. Explaining the K Wheat Bill, Mr JEall says the Government does not propose to purchase every bushel of whe&fc grown, but offers 5s a bushel to farmers desiring to sell, but, in the event of the market failing, it holds no responsibility to recoup the farmer holding stocks. Farmers will not be allowed to sell elsewhere. ADELAIDE, Dec. 2. The pre-harvest wheat estimate is 46,664,761 bushels. OTTAWA, Dec. 2. Hon. G. E. Foster, Minister for Trade and Commerce, recently purchased and forwarded 250,000 bushels of wheat for New Zealand, and an additional 140,000 will be purchased shortly and shipped. MELBOURNE, Dec. 2. The action of the legislation repealing the fixed prices has caused confusion in the wheat market. The Government is not condemned for fixing the prices, but for lacking the courage to commandeer the wheat, and as soon as the elections were over, lifting the bar to free sales. Many operators were caught short for large amounts. The Government now proposes to import, and to do this must induce the Federal Government to remove the duty. CHRISTCHURCH, Dec. 2. Mr Acland, Reform candidate for Avon, suggested this evening that the Government, in addition to purchases of wheat in Australia and Canada, might borrow sufficient wheat from Australia, pending the harvesting of our own crop, and return the quantity to them when the crop was reaped. This would smash any possible scheme of the millers to exploit the public by holding for a big rise in the next few weeks.