IMPORT OF WHEAT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22464, 7 July 1936, Page 11

IMPORT OF WHEAT

SUPPLY FROM CANADA

ACTION BY GOVERNMENT

USE IN FLOUR-MILLING

Following its expressed intention to import wheat for gristing, instead of flour as previously, it is understood that the Government will shortly land at least 1000 tons of Canadian wheat for Hour-milling purposes. r I his will be the first shipment from Canada since the recent embargo was enforced, although <i similar quantity of Australian wheat arrived last month.

The percentage of Canadian flour which is permitted to be used in the manufacture of bread has been increased to 10 per cent, following representations from the Auckland Master Bakers' Association, which contended that a proportion of flour milled from Canadian hard wheat was essential for good -bread. It had previously been suggested by the Minister of Industries and Commerce, the Hon. I). G. Sullivan, that bread Improvers could be substituted.

This importation will have the effect of releasing a similar quantity of wheat from the South Island for blending purposes. It also will result in an increase in the supply of offals for the poultry and pig industries, although supplies of bran and pollard will be hardly large enough to have any marked effect on these markets. The Government also hopes to supply additional employment by carrying out the gristing in the Dominion. When the Government's proposal to stabilise the wheat-growing, milling and baking industries was under discussion, the opinion was voiced that the idea of importing hard wheat instead of flour would not give the New Zealand baker a flour of the same quality as that at present imported. A business man stated that millers in Canada carefully selected high-quality hard wheats for blending and maintained a high standard. He stated that a top-grade of flour could not be produced by New Zealand millers importing straight lines of hard wheat, in his opinion, while the Australian hard-wheat flour was useful, bakers without exception declared that its value for blending could not equal that from Canada.