Wheat Control

NZ Truth, Issue 854, 1 April 1922, Page 1

Wheat Control

The North Canterbury ■executive •of the Farmers' Union met tat Christchurch last week and .submitted to lengthy mastication the question whether the 1922-23 season's wheat should, be under Government control, or (Whether there should be a free market. Branches of the Union had been previously asked by the parent body to submit their opinion as to fixing the price of wheat, and these were put before the. meeting. In most case 3 the opinion iwas that the Government should fix the price and m some cases a pointer was thrown out as to the price that Messrs.- Massey and Co. should set down as the minimum. The suggested figures ranged from 5s to 5s 9d per bushel. There were, however, several branches which stuck out for an open market, each branch giving its reasons iii tabloid form. As has happened before, the "ayes," or that section desirous of Government control of the market, raised the old cry that "if the farmer m the future was not to .be guaranteed a fair price for his wheat, then he was going out of action, and no wheat would be grown." "Truth," recollecting back a few years, minds the time when , the wharfles, at Lyttelton, used words almost identical with those of the North Canterbury cockies. The wharfies said that "if the wharf laborer m the future was not to be guaranteed a fair price for his labor, then he .was going out of action and no wharf work would be done." That, • however, is by the way and unnoticeable when viewed through glasses of convenient color. . The question of present concern is whether or- not the Government is going to step m and drop another parcel of the country's good money over the 1922-23 wheat season! According to one of the speakers at the Christchurch meeting, "it's pretty certain that the Government will lose by its experience of .the present season'a surplus," and that loss must be made up somehow. If it is intended to guarantee the. wheat cocky a price for his grain, then the : Government should, at the same time, guarantee its own position, and that of the community. The Canterbury farmers m favor of theGovernment speculating- m the control of the market suggest an elastic minimum between 5s and 6s, but appear to lpse sig-ht of the fact that there is a difference of about 2s between impor^ and export price, so that if there is* a surplus again next season, the poor old Government stands to lose what they paid if the export value is taken. On the other hand, of course, Massey, too, might show a dividend over the spec, and Incidentally stir up the bitterness of their own cocky • supporters if there is a shortage next season, and the guaranteed Government price falls below that which would have prevailed m open market. In case, the Government mig.ht knock enough out of the transaction to counterbalance the amount which is going West on account of the present : . railway policy. The Christchurch ."Press," dry nurse 6f the Massey Party, ..and 'all that it signifies, is, at ariyrate, of the same opinion as "Truth" m this matter and, fearless, as usual, it says that: We are still o£ the opinion, which we have often expressed, that it was a pity that the Government ever began to interfere with wheat prices, aim that the sooner it abandons its policy of control and guarantees the \better it will be. That "turn down" by the "Press" should be a bitter blow to farmers who stick out for Government control .when the general meeting of cockies considers the matter. .

Jimmy Ross, erstwhile manager of Sydney "Stock' and Station Journal," is. on a visit to New Zealand, and has been opening his whitebait trap to the übiquitous reporter. Speaking of his journey from Christchurch to InVercargill, during which he met all nationalities and all degrees of thirst, he states that he has never seen a tetretch of country more productive, or with greater possibilities for the ideal million farms proposition. There was nothing to equal it m ihis experience from the bottom of England \to the top of Scotland. In extent it Was superior .to West Victoria for visible stock-carrying capacity, andxthe only place he could compare It with was Holland (where the . schnapps comes from) m its best season — the spring, •when the country was deep m grass and the Holstein cattle were everywhere. Here, m ' addition to cattle, there were aheep of splendid quality, and with the two together this country was better than anything he had se»en. It gave htm a wider view of New Zealand's (possibilities .of, production, which, for all the Dominions of the Empire, must be the great task of the future days of peace. These great areas of wealth must attract from the older world not only workers ; seeking employment, but a greater number of people with capital seeking homes m better conditions than they could ever hope for m Great Britain. Stop your kidding, Jimmy; you haye not seen Auckland yet.