THE WHEAT INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19126, 18 September 1925, Page 8

THE WHEAT INDUSTRY.

Confirmation has been given by the Minister for Agriculture to unofficial reports that the plan for supplying the Dominion's wheat needs 'from domestic sources has failed. It was recently stated that 4,000,000 bushels, or more than half the year's supply, would have to be imported, and the Minister's statement suggests that the estimate iB conservative. This is unfortunate, for the scheme expounded four months ago, though partly based on Government intervention, seemed to open a -way of escape from State interference in the wheat and flour industries. It was devised by a conference of representatives from the two industries and afterwards sanctioned by the Government. An undertaking was given that the farmers would grow sufficient wheat; the millers agreed to purchase the whole hardest at prices fixed in the agreement, to sell flour and by-pro-ducts at fixed prices, and to take the risk of exporting any surplus. If world prices should rise above the agreed rates, the millers were to have the profits on the problematical surplus; on the other hand, they were to bear the loss in the event of prices falling, but the Government was then to intervene with an embargo to prevent cheap flour being imported to rob them of the profits in the home market. The Government's concurrence in these proposals was entirely contingent* upon the undertaking by the wheatgrowers that they would sow a suffi cient area to satisfy the Dominion's requirements. The scheme has not had a fair trial. Weather conditions in the wheat districts have been so constantly unfavourable over a long period that land reserved for planting has been unworkable and it has been impossible for farmers to demonstrate their sincerity. In these circumstances, it becomes necessary to review the question again. So far as this season is concerned, the effort to achieve the ideal of independence of imported wheat has been defeated. The wheat-growing industry has not been restored, and the poultry industry is being killed, while prices for flour and bread are

being artificially maintained. That has been the experience every year since the Government undertook a/ special guardianship of wheatgrowing, granting it privileges that are not given to any other occupation in the Dominion. The inevitable conclusion is that the country would be better served in respect of both quantity and prices of bread supply and grain for the poultry industry if the Government withdrew completely, leaving the farmers, the millers and the merchants to attend to the business. Both the extractive and the manufacturing sides of the wheat industry are amply protected by the customs tariff and that form of assistance should be given a fair trial. Experience has certainly proved that politics have failed to stimulate wheat-growing.