GRAIN PURCHASING.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 11, Issue 833, 14 December 1888, Page 9

GRAIN PURCHASING.

, W THBJIIDITOa OF TBS ' OTAOO BAILY '••■•/ ' ■ : : <-> '■ •-• TIKES.' "> '■' 611,-i-In your issno of the Brd Inst. yon kiieVfdllowiDgthe statements of the Mi.VAVBA Kksioh, made some severe comments iipva'ft business transaction in Which £ am 1 interested. I hare therefore te ask that you qOßfill grarit nit space-in 'which to state the ( «impl»factl. ■■■'■■■■ : • : ■/( „ . : x>l refer to the purchase of oats from' tha ,< Broi; Aitken at Waikaka, these oats being purchased, as is pretty generally known, an . n£ { account. And,,yqn xqubV permit me to, „ ,'^ay thatjn exercising your undoubted right ,M » ( journalist to refer to matters that may / nsLconsidered offences against "commercial. ' ' jnpiraltfy " you should jhav.e taken care tp, ' jpaqoire into tbe meyri^jOf tbe,case. , Pjgefac« llng1 Ing yppr.reWarki >mii the ; words "the/facts;, /"' fiiatTbare ponJef: to. light," you proceed to * ebmment in the' strongest terms upon the ■. ''^tssnsaotion, holding 8 the one party to . the i^.taile up to the public obloquy on the unsupported statement of ! the other party. Did ! too law permit such & thing to become , general, the " liberty of the press " would indeed become ; a thing intolerable. Plainly . : < .ftated, you hare coiistitnted yourfielf a judge > In, the matter without hearing the evidence. The farmers Mi«rt, and m I bar* said, you following the Matadba BwaiaN endorse their statement that the oats were purchased ft! Is per bushel leas than the market value is Dunediß, and that I, by my.represeatAtiTei, took advantage ,qt the "struggling aettlen." /Totfie truth of these assertions I , ftfisan emphatic denial. The. facts are as rofows : — The oats were bought on 22nd Ifoyember at from 2s 6d to 2s 7d per bushel, according to qualify, delivered, at Waikaka siding for net cash, free of commission. * -They, were -for the most part " fait feed " •ate, , From Messrs D. keitt and Co.'« circular of 22nd ult. (the date of one of the purchases) I give the followingf Dunedin quotations for eats : — Prime feed Ss to 8s Id ,p«r bushel ; inferior do 2s 6d to 2s lid per . \ bushel. iTrom these quotations the agent's commission has to bt dedopttd, while the jCostof railage from WaikakatQ Dunedin is |Ully,3d per bushel. A reference t« yotsr ©wnlks will prove the truth of the above quotations., I affirm, therefore, that the oats were ■ ' bought by my agent for their full market 1 value on the day of sale. Bef erring to the firmer* statement that he demurred to sell, <" act knowing the market quotations; that : ' my agent pressed the sale, quoting Is per :■' bushel lees 'than the true value, Mr Scott ". agent iri the matter) writes xaeiu, follows :— " X don't remember that he (Aitkeh) •ver asked me the "ruling market price, but it he did I know my reply would have been tsom2»6d to 2s 94, for the simple reason . . ( that. I literally had no idea that anything ' ' kiaher could be gives," ; f :• "It may baweUlha^I should add that Mr Scott was |n trefty with the farmer! on my ' •ccpunt fpr the, same,parcel of i oats some days " jpreViously at 2s 2d per bushel, and that tha facts of the case in no way bear the interpretation that the farmer was come upon unawares, inasmuch as he (Aitkea) was in Gore on the day before the sale, and must have acquainted himself with the market , **,*•■? •,.-.■,.•:.. ; •:..■■ : .■■-' ' _ \'-"fiie whole <r«uU« lies in the fact that '"' ' after,' tl^e sale oats w«nt up in price. At the ' ia'eit auction sale of bats in Dunedin, held on the. following day (28rd November), prices * 'increased fully Is per bushel, owing m a '■■■ speculative - demand for shipment to Austra- i > tiai That I 1 anticipated increased prices .(though not to the 'detent recorded) when , faking the purchases above refern|d to I . xeadily, admit ; but if it be wrong in'princig^to buy in the expectancy of selling at a profit, then our, whole system 1 of busineßß, and , not alone this . isolated transaction, inuil "-be! condemned. ' Ti 'Th^, a«»ove tranisaetion is not, by,, any tteans a nngplar one this season. Oats *■- iiave^Blen edld by agents at their fall market value, and because a speculative de. .piand; be» afterwards brought about almost " jamine, prices,", farmers , have sought to „ 'dieeredit the sales, < notwithstanding even. 0 , ozpfessions of satisfaction at the prices realised at the time. 1 had just thought of taking no notice ' «f this matfer, haying the conviction, thA thtf tranaacl'Qn w&b in bo sense, dUhonor- •" Able" on my par*. However, in justice to' tsyeelf and Mr fr'cottj I ihibk it right that : ; tqual publicity should be given to mine as to the farmers' statements ; and allowing lor tome : natural spreness on their part in not gelling: the highest price of the year, I assert that anything dishonorable about the affair lies in the fact that the farmers bay« sought to repudiate a sale entered in o by both parties in the most perfect good faith. — I am, etc , Hubert anderboic. Dunedin, Dec 11. (Per A. dteven,) The editor of the ' Olago Daily,, Times ' attaches this foot note :—" For the informal, ttton of our correspondent, we may say that befoie publication of the article in question W6 made enquiry a 6 to the accuwcy "■ of the etaiements which had been made E'llic, and even learned that oae of the new who considered himself aggrieved co 'Bulled a leading Dunedin/iM)'ici < or . with the ohjflct of seeing whether he could be compelled io deliver the oats sold by him. The circumstances disclosed t® us hppe«red to fnily warrant the strictures passe .i upon the transap'ioT-<» *