WHEAT TO "FREE" MILLS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21992, 29 June 1933, Page 13

WHEAT TO "FREE" MILLS

TO THE EDlloß.

Sir, —We hesitate to encroach further upon your generosity, but the letters published bv you from your recent contributors " Observer " and " White Light '■ seem to us to demand the courtesy of reply. Our letter to Mr D. S. M'Kenzie. of Gore, .in reality answers many ot " Observer's " points. We see no reason why we should not adopt Distributees' prices. We have difficulty in following his argument with regard to the use of imported flour. He states- that we can hope to displace imported flour only by using imported wheat. We, on the contrary, believe that if we can produce, from New Zealand-grown wheat, flour equal in quality to the imported article and selling at a much lower price, we shall have no difficulty in displacing imported flour. Our regret, as we hive repeatedly stated, is that We cannot secure sufficient supplies of New Zealand wheat to effect our purpose to the extent we desire. We are at liberty to purchase imported wheat, if we wish to do_ so, but imported wheat has imposed on it a very heavy duty fixed on a sliding scale. It is thus impossible to make flour, from imported wheat and sell it at a price to compete with flour made from locally grown wheat. A glance at the scale of tariffs shows that flour made from Australian milling wheat must cost the miller no leas' than f 3 per ton more than flour produced from New Zealand wheat, of similar quality. The Government has taken every precaution to protect the New Zeafand wheat growing industry. We, for our part, consider that,' in reality, sufficient protection is thus given to our own industry. We should like to see the millers given permission to buy all the wheat they desire and competing with each Other on the basis of quality. We have no fear of reasonable competition, but. resent the fact that we are trammelled by regulations, framed, so far as we can see, 'under the influence and in the interests of a power trade rival. We cannot think that this is in the public interests, and are certain that the practice has only to be extended to such commodities as sugar and tobacco for the situation which is being forced upon us to be realised. As we have stated before, we wish to be permitted to buy more wheat so that we may employ our machinery fully, employ more men, and keep up with the demand for our flour. The fact that to keep abreast of orders we have to send out all the flour we produce " hot" off the rolls, and are unable to stack it for a few weeks in order to improve the quality, as we should like to do, is surely sufficient proof of our contention that flour of quality to satisfy the public taste can be produced from New Zealand wheat, and that it is absurd that foreign flour should be imported while our own mills are restricted in output. As we have previously stated, we are prepared, should we receive the necessary permit, to purchase 10,000 sacks of New Zealand milling wheat at the Government fixed prices, and to grist it before next season's supplies are available, selling the produce at the same rates as Distributors, Ltd. Our concern is a new one, and we are, therefore, not yet in a position to state what profit we are making or to what extent the running of three shifts would improve oUr position. We dp know that we occupy an admirable location for economic production, and that our one difficulty is,that we have to contend with the hampering restrictions imposed'upon us by the Wheat Purchase Board.—We are, etc., Star Milling Company, Ltd! A. L. Steven. Dunedin, June 28.