SHORTAGE OF FOWL WHEAT

Otago Witness, Issue 3327, 19 December 1917, Page 12

SHORTAGE OF FOWL WHEAT

IMPORTATION FROM AUSTRALIA RESTRICTED. Messrs Fraser and Co. have received a communication from their agents in Melbourne stating that trouble has arisen there in connection with the shipment of fowl wheat to New Zealand, consequent on the restrictions made by the New Zealand Government requiring such wheat to be passed as free from weevil. The Agricultural Department in Melbourne, which issues allcertificates, has now taken the stand that if there is the slightest sign of weevil ftiey will not issue a certificate. The Melbourne agents state that all the wheat in Victoria has a slight sign of weevil about it, and that this has been brought about through the grain being held for such a long period. Both old and new wheat is stacked together—not mixed in the stacks, but placed on the same areas. A lot of the wheat has been put over the sulphurising machines. This is being done with all the' fowl wheat, and som© bags show touched 'grains, but of course the machines have taken out any weevil that existed. After some days, it is asserted, however, that the weevils again make their appearance in the treated wheat. There is also some weevil about the stacks, and of course if certificates are to be refused if there is a sign of weevil about the wheat, then export business to New Zealand is quite impossible. In a later letter the agents point out that even the f.a.q. wheat purchased by the New Zealand Government is not absolutely free from -weevil [Dunedin millers can corroborate this statement], and under the circumstances, after discussing the matter with Mr Ferrier, who is the New Zealand Government representative appointed "to supervise the shipment in Melbourne of the dominion's purchase of Australian wheat, they_decided to send a cablegram to the chairman of the Board of Trade at Wellington, suggesting that Mr Ferrier should be permitted to examine and pass the fowl wheat. If the Board of Trade did not modify their stipulations the Melbourne agents stated that they_ were afraid that any business in " fowl wheat would be absolutely impossible.

Messrs Fraser and Co. have now received a telegram from Melbourne which states: "We have not shipped. Conditions are unworkable."

At the present time there is an acute shortage of fowl wheat in Dunedin.