SOUTHLAND OATS

Southland Times, Issue 19229, 20 May 1921, Page 5

SOUTHLAND OATS

PRICE IN TARANAKI MR HAWKEN’S STATEMENT EXAMINED When Mr O. J. Hawken, M.P. for Egmont, was in Invercargill along with the Parliamentary Party he advocated an investigation into the charges attaching to the transport and sale of grain from the south to the north. In the course of his remarks he declared that the same oats as were selling in Southland at 2s per bushel were costing consumers at New Plymouth as much as ss. Therefore, he argued, the charges in some way were too great and they should be reduced to permit of the Southland farmers receiving more for their produce and the Taranaki consumers paying less for it. If Mr Hawken’s figures were correct they certainly provide an incentive for investigation, but a reporter who waited on a number of local merchants found them rather sceptical that as much as 5s is or was being paid recently for oafs in Taranaki. They poinf out that the price in Auckland but recently rose to 4s 6d, ex store, in sympathy with an improved tone in the south, and, although transhipment charges are generally avoided in transport to Auckland, they, it is contended do not represent the disparity between that price and the one quoted by Mr Hawken.

“Either Mr Hawken is wrong or New Plymouth merchants have a very profitable ring,” stated a broker. “I venture to say that even at present prices, and they have advanced about threepence since Mr Hawken spoke, the merchants of Invercargill would be quite prepared to ship oats to New Plymouth and pay all costs if they were guaranteed 5s per bushel. They would show a nice little profit.” An effort to trace an imaginary parcel of oats from Centre Bush, which may be taken as a place situated at an average distance from Bluff to New Plymouth was successful owing to the courtesy of a merchant who went to some trouble in the compilation of illuminating figures. The price of feed oats, on trucks at Centre Bush, was given as 2s lAd, which Is from threepence to fourpence under the present rate for good samples. Then must be allowed over 95 d for actual charges from on trucks to f.0.b.5.i., Bluff, and the buyer is given a penny profit. So that the selling price, f.o.b.s.i. Bluff, may be reckoned as close on 3s OAd. The freight from Bluff to New Plymouth (including cost of one transhipment) is put down at something over lOd and marine insurance and stamp duty absorb approximately another farthing, bringing the cost of each bushel up to, say, 3s 10fd, c.i.f.e., New Plymouth. Then come what are called terminal charges, including haulage from wharf to siding, cartage to store, and, if the price includes delivery, cartage and delivery from the store. These charges one man estimates in the light of local experience will add another fourpence to the price. To this 4s 2Jd must be added the merchant’s profit which is, of course, dependent to a great extent on the state of the market. There are no merchants to be found locally who consider It likely that northern merchants, when oats are cheap and plentiful, make a profit of over ninepence per bushel, but, given that Mr Hawken’s figure was not a mistake, this is the only reason why when, the cereal ia 2s or thereabouts in Southland, it should sell at 5s in New Plymouth. “The. charges may appear high,” remarked a broker, “but that cannot be helped so far as dealers in oats at this end are concerned, and I do not see how it is possible to eliminate any of the charges. BtiU, if consumers in Taranaki were paying 5s per bushel they were paying too much. It is their place to remedy matters and r.ot to complain about the charges. From Mr Hawken’s remarks there is only one conclusion to be reached —they are being ‘ rooked.’ There is only one possibility of reducing the charges unless the shipping companies reduce their rates and that is by direct shipping to New Plymouth, and the chance of that coming about is mighty slight. If merchants in the north aro charging as much as Mr Hawken states consumers at that end should combine and buy their oats direct. That would be th only solution, and, if the member for Egmont had gone into the position thoroughly he would have seen that it was his own electors who need his advice and not the Invercargill Chamber of Commerce.”