STATE BAKERIES

Otago Witness, Issue 3183, 17 March 1915, Page 30

STATE BAKERIES

STATEMENT BY PRIME MINISTER. EXPORT OF OATS TO STOP. (Fhoii Oue Own (Joeeespondent.) WELLINGTON, March 14. “ I have already said that, if any further increase takes place in the price of bread, the Government will establish bakeries in the four principal centres,” said the Prime Minister to your representative yesterday. “We have not arrived at this determination without proper consideration. 1 know perfectly well that an increase in the price of the necessaries of life is unavoidable in war time, but extreme prices must be avoided wherever possible and conditions made as easy as we can make them, especially for people with families. I know that a number of people, many for political reasons, have been crying out before they were hurt, and I am net wasting much sympathy on them, but I know, also, that a very much larger number are already leeling the pinch and having a difficulty in making ends meet, and the latter is the class we are anxious to help. “We have found it necessary in the meantime,” continued Mr Massey, “to prohibit the exportation of oats. The Registrar-general has reported to me that, judging by present appearances, there are barely enough oats in New Zealand this season for our own requirements. Unlike wheat, it would be almost impossible to import oats from any other country', and, to avoid hardship and inconvenience later, this export of oats must stop for the present.”