MANAWATU DAILY TIMES. MONDAY, MARCH 8, 1920. WHO IS PAYING?

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 1509, 8 March 1920, Page 4

MANAWATU DAILY TIMES. MONDAY, MARCH 8, 1920. WHO IS PAYING?

The difference between the ii.j.ed price of the loaf and Its actual cost must be paid and the taxpayers of the country are entitled to know what the bill will be. From Mr Massey's statement it appears that the Government proposes to sell wheat to the millers at 7/5 a bushel, involving with other increases in manufacturingcosts, an addition of £3 to the price Of flour. Half of this is to be passed on to the public, and the other half returned to the miller by increasing' the subsidy to £4 7/6 a ton. This would uivoive about £150,000 a year, making a total charge for the flour subsidy of £363,000. But the Government already owns some 2,000,000 bushels of Australian wheat which costs 6/7 landed at New Zealand ports, and if this is sold at the flat rate of 7/5 the Government will make a profit of some £BO.OOO, to set against the increase in the subsidy. The quantity of flour and wheat, recently estimated by the Prime Minister as equivalent to 500,000 bushels, and the profits made by the Board of Trade on New Zealand wheat have also to be taken into account. The position is, however, difficult to estimate accurately from the piecemeal information furnished by occasional official statements. and the Prime Minister should as soon as possible publish a complete account of last year's operations and a clear estimate of the probable cost to the taxpayers of the new scheme.