THE WHEAT AND FLOUR SUPPLY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16226, 9 November 1914, Page 4

THE WHEAT AND FLOUR SUPPLY.

Thk statement which the Prime Minister has made with regard to the situation in respect to the supply of "wheat and flour in this country will be read with a good deal of interest. It has not been easy to be very enthusiastic over the prospects of success attending the efforts of the Government to regulate the prices of these commodities. Whatever Government proposed to do was bound to be loudly criticised in some quarter. But if it has been able to administer a sensible check to speculation and to prevent the exploitation of the public by unpatriotic individuals it has rendered the community an important service. Mr Massey is, of course, fully entitled to emphasise the fact that no parallel can fairly be drawn between the case of New Zealand and that of Australia respecting the supply of wheat and flour, for the simple reason that the shortage of wheat with which this dominion is faced is not a corresponding factor in 'the situation in the Commonwealth. Mr Massey'a plain statement of facts should discount materially any criticism of the Government on the score that it has been less than thoroughly alive to the interests of the dominion in the abnormal circumstances that have arisen. Having ascertained that there -was a promise of a shortage in the wheat supply for the present year—that is, until the next harvest is available—the Government took the steps which Mr Maasey has recapitulated in order to secure supplies from abroad to meet the deficiency. The response from the Commonwealth, for reasons for which it is impossible to blame the Federal authorities, being disappointing, the Government went further afield. It has placed an order in Canada for a quarter of a million bushels of -wheat, and has received an intimation of the willingness of the Indian Government to supply a like quantity if required. This news is the more satisfactory since it can be read in conjunction -with the intelligence that considerable quantities of wheat and flour are being forwarded to this country from the Commonwealth as a sequel to the withdrawal of- restrictions which had been placed on the fulfilment of contracts made prior to the outbreak of war. The removal by the New Zealand Government of the duty on imported wheat and flour in the meantime was of course necessary to the consistency of its policy of endeavouring to fill the granaries of the dominion. There is no lack of evidemce that the Government has shown itself quite on the alert as to the needs against which provision should be made. There appears to have been a satisfactory response upon the part of farmers to the appeal or recommendation that was addressed to them, when the time was first recognised as one of emergency, to sow larger areas than usual in wheat and other cereals. Reports from Canada indicate, also, that a very extensive addition is being made to the wheat areas in that productive part of the Empire. If Mr Massey's reminder that the sale price in this dominion of wheat that is imported to meet the prospective shortage in the local supply must depend to a large extent on the price at which it is imported be properly digested by the public in the meantime the effect may be to prevent some misunderstanding later