WHEAT AND FLOUR SUPPLIES

North Otago Times, Volume C, Issue 13148, 1 September 1914, Page 8

WHEAT AND FLOUR SUPPLIES

» ," < UH> . . /', t J AN h - > v v ' » ' TION. ' ) .CTIRISTCIIpOII, August 29. The l lem&iks made nt 'Hid'., special meeting oHhc moslei bnkeis and in Pailiainent on Thuisdny w<\ic binughl I uiuloi flie notiqo of one' of the best infoimed men m the wheal and iloui iLi ado in Clnislcliuich, bv a lopiosenln- , I tne of The Pi ess, and ho supplied some , jinfoimnfion as to the position in ic I gaid to slocks of wlionl and Iloui,

~H e-lirsl,-'of nil >a,id'-that :it;^ nottrue that the .'price') of j)ourjJifid;,bepi) increased by the.;.associated. milj,ers by,' £2 per: l;piisincethe; decin,rai^n ; o,[,wnr. ! The- pric'p a rise; o'jC £1 per ton, took. p]ace,on: July, 31st, beforo war wns';,'i|o / elai , eil,-i.miiln ; . further-rise of ,J!1/-per ton.- Ps,; made this iveek,,th.e .price.now.,being..£l2, per ton, Tho reason why : tho bakers have not; been able to obtain large supplios, was because, of; tho;oxtraordiuary demand; made by householders'through; tliu grocers for'llouf »wlicif : fl'rti:"AV|is ilo : cjnrcd. -The stocks-,tlien-on-?miilers ! hands wore absorbed, aud.thfi)v ! lijid to work, at high pressure to fill tlie orders ns tvliev cnine; in. |The' jinder took to!;rcccivo'all and to fill them asjiooius possible, but 'the': as:!ociated.-,ini)lers fouldldinrdly be expected to" complete; at the current; price when' rising in valiio,/nnd iinassociatcdiivillprs could advance'prices of ;tlou,r/tomtit, them-l.solvcs.-f:;•■.>•";-.■-?.'' ,-■■' : :lf;X': ■

. by: M,r Bux)ou\:^ tives thhktliVw'Avns .a (iarrfjover of 1,040,00(1 ;l)usliois:.fvoiir theflMl cropland that with the traliau Jlo\y : to July .list til'ipfp woulil bo.equal, to; 7,22!),'8J5- wheat to meet tlio o,ooo,ooo,.biis|ss requirenients forHlio opinion, was expressed that-Sr 4)lixtoh's figures were quite incorrect. Mr Buxton, based his estimate of the ".carry over" on the over':' fbr'tlio' do:; cade, but in Ifll.'i there, was practically no carry over at,all. In 101.'i there would probably have been an actual shortage, but for the iinpoi'ts'of Australian Hour equal to ''over 100,000 bushels of wheat. Importations' of Australian flour this yoj)r are heavier than last year, because (lie position i was realised Hint this year's short.crop, following the short one. of 1913, did not provide sufficient wheat for a year's requirements. Should the' next harvest be as late as last season's, the-pro-bability is that all slocks of old wheal will be exhausted before the new grain is available. Millers must, .if possible, malic, some provision for holding over a quantity of old wheat for mixing with the new, as it depends entirely upon I he season how soon the new wheat is lit for milling. One difficulty in making up estimates of the probable slocks of whoat on hand, it was pointed out, has been the unreliability of the figures published by the Department'of Agriculture. In JDK) and 1011 no statistic? wore- collected, .and'the acreage.and yield were merely "guessed at." In 19.13 and 1914 the returns were collected by post from | farmers, and these last two years showed substantial decreases on the "estimated" crops of 1910 and 1911, and the figures for these two years not being reliable, no one could Ray what their "carry, over" from 19.11 to 191" was, But the surplus from 191 i! carried forward into 1913 wag only sufficient io make up with the imports of Australian Jlour, the deficiency in the 1913 crop, No one in the trade /has been estimating a "carry over" of thin year's wheat into the 1914 cereal year, and the demand for wheal' for spring sowing has made an inroad into stocks that was not contemplated.