WHEAT PURCHASE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17527, 10 July 1917, Page 7

WHEAT PURCHASE.

.CRITICS AT .WORK

SHARPLY REPLIESj. v V- ’: ' * '•

[From Otr* OoJUtsoroNDXKT.]

- 'A statement is to be made to-morro\r *s£ the .House .by the. Hon W.. D. S. the Minister - who negotiated the purchase of a .million bushels ■» of. Australian wheat for New Zealand. i-He proposes to answer a number o ‘briticisms. . . . , . Some gentlemen/’ he remarked to S representative of tho “Lyttelton aes” to-day. ; ! havo been making a tement, either through gross lgnor--flnce or deliberate misrepresentation, "'tfrat I rushed over to Australia and ad''vertised that I wanted to buy wheat and consequently bought at a ?«ric C . The position really; is that, on * behalf of the New Zealand Govern--ment, I had been in communication S Australia since the beginnmc of -lash December, seven months before I ■ left New Zealand. Also, I was m 'kttuch with Mr Massey and &r Joseph „W»rd for the whole period on the quqs-v-4hnn of wheat purchase. Iho Austra vun Government knew the position of • *New wheat because St, was well advertised M>y chambers of commerce, millers and farmers at pubays* 1 an «P«S’ ) “r ?mO- - in AnstaU. « Sally: i» commotion VL't“S S t*G P .ve»mS dVm«d ehipmcnt that t to Aust ralia. the Pdtchas . g ove TOment ■'VP* wa9 br0l ! Sdng the posifeg/USk «'r ,s ic . *|n'n« otSer^ places. 2Ss£i£ibm* 4 -U UtSxr that”™ U MCM.mpokly as P?.®®sa w m iUing wheats. Rasing heav b ?in he Smvinced trldhelievo the House p o3S ihle> && *• J&Ulity Mfflerl who ...ncrice for good quai y c 450 tons •fKft pcrfeotly■.satish-, . Bat isAnd gdality. . Others think it 'M C wSe‘object of the purhi&h. lne wnoiw 1 > .. d a ..iqhase was to he \ nunca suggest it -reasonable pnce. W , cheaper. Wheat could have been a t all prices, f Mn certa nly be bought at a ife "qualityjs ■ ttor was cheap having regard to ™V,r ’ vif. K* 6d free on board. -sh" r —■