SHORTAGE OF WHEAT

Otago Witness, Issue 3773, 6 July 1926, Page 20

SHORTAGE OF WHEAT

FLOUR-MILLING INDUSTRY. CLOSING OF MILLS. CHRISTCHURCH, June 28. The position that has arisen in regard to the flour-milling industry in Canterbury U undoubtedly a serious one and without precedent in the history of the trede. Unless something unforeseen happens it is probable that every mill in the province will be closed down soon. Stocks of wheat are becoming depleted, and rnillem do not' know where to buy further supplies, at

lout at the price that the; are prepared *> pay. AUCKLAND MILLERS. A SERIOUS POSITION. AUCKLAND, June 28. The atatement from Christchurch relating to the flour-milling industry is fully endorsed by Mr Pratt, manager of the Northern Roller Milling Company. There had only teen half the crop of wheat harvested in the Dominion, and growers considered that they were entitled to get as high a price as possible for it, he said. The only remedy was the remission of part of the duty on Australian wheat to enable New Zealand millers to grind flour and market it at a price that would compete with Australian flour. At present flour from Australia could be imported and sold at £lB a ton. At this figure New Zealand millers could Dot possibly pay the price demanded by growers for wheat. . Another aspect of the position was that, even if the growers had already sold their wheat, there was not sufficient grain m the country to last for more than another month or two. When it became exhausted the millers would still be in the unenviable position of having to run their mills at a loss or close down. It was quite true, added Mr Pratt, that Auckland flour-milling companies were importing Australian wheat merely to keep the mills running, and also to keep their businesses together. The position could be truly described as chaotic. Representations had been made to the Minister of Agriculture with the object of having tne wheat duty partly remitted, but so far without effect. Unless some definite action were taken immediately to relieve the position many mills would be compelled to close down. THREAT TO CLOSE MILLS. WELLINGTON, June 30. There seems to be u > fil '? llts ' r/ tO , wheat and flour ouestion in New Zealand, and the recent threat of thf millers to close down temporarily has revived interest in the subject, references to which were made in Parliament to-day. lo begin with, Sir John Luke gave notice of a question whether the Government would endeavour to enter into an equitable agreement with the wheatgrowers ■ the Dominion to have as large an area as possible cropped. In this way he thought our trade balance might be affected and the immigration policy f the Government Jones (Ellesmere) wished to know if the Minister would nave a return prepared which would show whether the millers who were talking of closing were doing so because of the shortage of wheat or because they had considerable quantities of Hour on hand and preferred to close till these were disposed of. The Hon. D. Buddo (K ia"oi) asked, without notice, as a question of urgency, what steps the Minister intended to take by tariff or regulation ti prevent the closing down of the flourrmi.s of the Dominion. The Hon. O. J. Hawkei. (Minister of Agriculture), in reply, said that apparently New Zealand had grown sufficient wheat to last t the end of September next. We had imported into Auckland recently 300,000 bushels of wheat and 104,000 centals of flour. We had used 1100 tons a month. The excess of flour imported this year as against last year was 1500 tons, a comparatively small quantity. It would be seen that there was almost two months’ supply imported, which would carry us *to the end of November. He knew that some millers were short of wheat, or were supposed to be. Other millers, however, had bought wheat to fill the whole requirement of the year. It was calculated that there was still 1,000.000 bushels in the hands of the farmers, sa he did not thir* the Government was called upon to take any action at present. It was the intention of the Government to allow the ordinary channels in New Zealand to provide the supply of wheat or lour as the case might be. It was not the intention to interfere by importing wheat duty free or flour. There would be plenty of wheat from other countries if we did not have sufficient in New Zealand. CHRISTCHURCH MILLS CLOSING. CHRISTCHURCH, July 1. Arising out of the inability of the millers to obtain wheat at their official prices the mill of Messrs Fleming and Co. (Ltd.) stopped gristing on Tuesday afternoon. The mill of Messrs Wood Bros. (Ltd.), It is understood, will cease gristing on Saturday. The mill of Messrs D. H. Brown and Son will be able to continue gristing for a month or so, and the Zealandia Milling Company will be able to continue operations for two or three months. The closing of the mills does not necessarily imply that they have run out of stocks of flour, as some have varying quantities on hand. GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION. WAIMATE, July 3. At a meeting the Waimate wheatgrowers this afternoon decided to support any workable scheme in connection with (he formation of a wheatgrowers’ association.