WHEAT AND FLOUR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19879, 24 February 1928, Page 9

WHEAT AND FLOUR.

NEW SCALE OF; DUTIES.

EFFECT ON THE CONSUMER. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE PROTEST Economic factors attaching to the duty on maize, wheat and flour are further discussed iu letters which have recently been exchanged between the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Minister of Customs, Hon. Downie Stewart. A letter from the Minister in reply to the chamber's latest representations was read at the council meeting yesterday. "I admit freely," stated the Minister's letter, "that the'more o* Jess stabilised prices? of wheat and flour which are expected to result from the new duties will, in a time of falling prices abroad, tend to keep the price of bread higher than it might have been otherwise. On the other hand, in a time of rising prices they .will have the opposite effect." The Minister scouts the suggestion that the increased Australian duties on butter and cheese are' retaliatory against the wheat and flour duties of New Zealand and appeals for a fair trial of the new sliding scale method of adjusting conflicting interests. Noting the council's objection to the exemption of crushed maize from the schedule, on the grounds that it is tinfair to those who have installed crushing and grinding plants in New land, Mr..Stewart says this was a Concession to those interested in the generous supply at reasonable rates of pig fodder, and was agreed to by a majority of representatives of the maize-growers and pig-farmers. He seeks information relative to the costly grinding and crushing plants said by the chamber to hate been installed in New Zealand, Mr. A. G. Lunn, the retiring president" of the chamber, in' a letter in reply, comments that as this is a time of falling prices, the stabilisation of wheat values tends to make the cost of living higher than it would otherwise have been. He makes the point that the benefits la Canterbury and Otago wheat-growers of higher prices than would have obtained without the new duties are apt to be less in the aggregate than the increased prices paid by the consumers. Bacon and eggs, says Mr. Lunn, will become dearer o» account of the increased price of fowl wheat and maize. The roaue .duties, he contends, encourage the use of skim milk rather than maize for fattening, thus tending to impair the average quality of pig meat and rendering futile subsidies granted for its export.