THE WHEAT QUESTION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 16992, 20 October 1915, Page 6

THE WHEAT QUESTION.

As wo have said before, the question of permitting surplus .wheat to bo exported deserves tho favourable consideration of the Government. The position was explained yesterday by a deputation to the. Hon G. W. Russell, on lines broadly sketched in these columns not long ago, and the Minister evidently was impressed with the importance of the subject and with the •sense, of tho views placed before him. Mr Russell, as a loyal colleague, very properly declined to criticise the aotions of Mr Massey as leader of the last Government, and we do not intend at this stage to repeat the criticism we felt called upon to offer some months ago. It has, however, become an established fact, beyond tho region of dispute, that the authorities based their treatment of the wheat question, practically from start to finish, upou erroneous information and inadequate knowledge. The methods of acquiring retjrns as to the area of land under wheat, the harvest prospects, and subsequently the actual threshing results were ' sadly imperfect. As events have turned out, it might almost have been letter if no returns had been secured, or at all events made public, beoause the results of circulating incorrect statements were represented in a wrong policy, in inflated prices for wheat, and consequently for bread, in speculation that became rather a wild gamble, in unnecessary and expensive importation; and now, unless the Government tak-Ji action, in a direct loss to dealers or growers. »uoh a loss means an economic injury to the Dominion, and, as it happens, especially to Canterbury, which is New Zealand's wheat centre. If accurate information regarding the position had been available the apprehension of a serious shortage would not have existed, except perhaps in respect of a -very ■,' short period immediately preceding the harvest. In that case panio prices would not have been encouraged and the public would probably have escaped a great deal of exploitation. Also, the present slump in wheat could have been avoided. But what is past cannot be recalled, and tho only good that can come out ! of ita consideration is to provide*' against tho repetition of mistakes The present difficulty is easily stated. There appears to be a. considerable surplus of wheat over and above tho requiroments of tho community. Possibly we/ have three-quarters of a million bushels moro than tho population can consume between now and next harvest time. Australia, on tho other hand, is short and wishes to purchase at a good price. What is asked is that the Government shall remove the embargo against exportation, in order that wheat which is not required in New Zealand may bo sold to Australia, where it is needed. If any fears of a deficient crop in the Dominion next year are entertained, it. is pointed out that the grain now proposed to be released from store and sent away could be replaced by purchase out of the Commonwealth harvest, and that the Now Zealand parties to tho double transact/ion would mako a substantial profit—possibly half a crown a bushel. Now, nobody should desire to see merchants or growers lose anything from £70,000 to £90,000 simply for the uncertain pleasure of hoarding what is not required here and withholding it from the people of Australia, who are eager to buy it for consumption. At the same time, the public has been ?o grievously exploited through its bread bill that care must be taken against an artifkral inflation of the local price following an economically sound permission to export. The Government is committed by its professions and legislation to a policy that will pi-otect tho consumer, but we feel sure that proper safeguards might be ararnged and tho embargo against exportation be lifted as well, at least within tho limits of the ascertained surplus. The business capacity of the Government, and the sincerity of would-be exporters", should be equal to exercising a reasonable control over the market and at tho same time avoiding the economic waste, on bntb sides of the Tasman Sea, which the existing conditions unquestionably involve.