WHEAT TO “FREE” MILLERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21985, 21 June 1933, Page 4

WHEAT TO “FREE” MILLERS

, TO THE EDITOR. . Sib, —The adoption last night by the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce of the report on the above subject, by the special committee appointed to look into it, must give entire satisfaction to all lovers ot justice and freedom in the Dominion. The fact that it comes so soon after the adoption of a similar finding by the Farmers’ Union gives one a feeling ot security and confidence in the sense or justice of the representative of the business community and encourages one to 1 persevere in anticipation of the ultimate victory of right. No doubt a report ot this finding will be forwarded to other chambers of commerce with, we hope, the result that the public w'ill ■ become acquainted with the facts and that ultimately public opinion will compel a revision of the present anomalous situa-

tion. . . , , It is obvious to any impartial observer • i that, if certain interests had their way, and if the community were less alive to the situation, “free” mills such as ours would find themselves deprived of_ all supplies of wheat and thus be quietly consigned to oblivion. With regard to the interview between one of your representatives and a miller, reported , in your issue of Saturday, we should like to point out that our letter to you, published in the same issue, it read carefully, disposes of many of the statements made by the miller concerned. Some matters, however, still demand elucidation. It is apparent from the report of the interview that Distributors, Ltd.; is'practically part* of the machinery of the Wheat Purchase Board and must largely be held to account for the policy of that board. Now, Sir, we think it a vicious thing that any set of traders, especially when failing to cope successfully, with the business they‘have undertaken should be able to dictate terms and policies, to their trade opponents. VVe must repeat that we have found that there is a place in the flourmilling business for our mill and that our activities are curtailed only by a: lack of sufficient raw material for manufacture. In spite of all .that has .been said with regard to the fixing of the price of wheat for the sake •of stabilising the wheat-growing industry, we are still compelled to adopt the conclusion that the whole arrangement, in addition to protecting the farmer —a wholly legitimate and laudable aim—ig intended also to protect the flour muling industry from competition within itself. Millers in Distributors, Ltd., may be content to work eight hours and less per day while mills in the United States and elsewhere grind flour for New Zealand. _ We absolutely refuse to accept such a situation as final and would put it that not until the New Zealand mills find that it i 8 impossible for them to supply the Dominion with flour, in spite of working successive shifts, should a single bag of foreign flour be imported. The statement, again, that competition among flourmillers is “ not excluded by % the present system and that they have to produce a good, sound article, the better the article the more chance they have of getting orders from the makers,” is an unfortunate one when one considers the previous' statement that “Distributors, Ltd., is a body which allots a certain output of flour and no more from,each of the mills controlled by it.” The suggested disruption of the industry, etc., because of the entry'of a little healthy J competition need not be taken too seriously, for if the industry can by any means improve the quality of its flour and thus keep out the 12,000 tons of imported flour, equivalent in wheat to approximately 180,000. sacks, thus giving further employment to our- own men and mills, then New Zealand as a whole will be the beneficiary. What was practically a license given by. Sir William Sim some years ago to Distributors, Ltd., to trade successfully throughout this land, carried , with' it its responsibilities. Distributors, * Ltd.,‘has obviously failed to meet these responsibilities and must therefore expect to find its monopoly withdrawn.—We are, etc., Stab Milling Co., Ltd., • ,A. L. Steven. Dunedin, June 20.