WHEAT DUTIES

Southland Times, Issue 22378, 18 July 1934, Page 8

WHEAT DUTIES

SLIDING SCALE VIGOROUS DEFENCE BY MINISTER NEED FOR INCREASED PRODUCTION (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) Wellington, July 17. A vigorous defence of the Government’s decision to retain the sliding scale of wheat duties was made in the House of Representatives this evening by the Minister of Lands, the Hon. E. A. Ransom, who stressed the need for expanding rather than restricting the primary production of the Dominion. In the past they had been too inclined to put all their eggs in one basket, he said. Opinions varied as to the decision of the Government not to accept the recommendations of the Commission. The report of the'Commission showed that there were approximately 6500 wheatgrowers in the Dominion, not 200 as had been stated by one speaker in a debate. There was no other primary industry which lent itself to the employment of labour to such an extent as wheatgrowin§. As the representative of a district in which there was little or no wheat grown, he felt that he could speak without having any accusation of bias made against him, and it was his definite opinion that if it had not been for the measure of protection given to the industry, wheatgrowers would have gone out of business during the period of low prices. At the present time, said the Minister, the primary industries of the Dominion were altogether too restricted. In the past they had depended almost entirely on the production of wool, butterfat and meat, but if they were to succeed they would have to consider opening up other avenues of production. They had been accused of having all their eggs in one basket, and the production of wheat was certainly one way of overcoming that. Mr Ransom said that the minimum wheat requirements of the Dominion were 8,500,000 bushels a year. In the 1932-33 season there was grown 11,000,000 bushels, the average production being 36.5 bushels per acre. In that year 1,500,000 bushels had been exported at world parity. In previous years only a small quantity had been exported and there had been no bulk importations of wheat since 1925-26. The estimated yield for the present season, based on an average of 33.4 bushels,. was 8,500,000 bushels, just the Dominion’s requirements. The threshings up to June. 1934, amounted to 7,852,000 bushels, an average yield of 33.4 bushels, so there would be a small exportable surplus again this year. “I think we should aim at what is a fair price for the grower of wheat,” said Mr Ransom, “and I think the sliding scale gives the grower the protection he needs more fairly than the system proposed by the Commission, but while I believe that the grower should get a fair price, I also believe that the consumer should be protected and unquestionably that protection will be given.” Some members complained about the price of bread, but in the early part of the session they were inunduated with petitions protesting against the low prices at which bread was being sold and asking that the Board of Trade Act should be invoked. If there were many abuses they could be readily dealt with under the Board of Trade Act. The Minister said that many of the 6500 wheatgrowers were Crown tenants and if they were affected, there would be a reflection on the national revenue. It was the Government’s duty to render all possible assistance to primary producers and not to place unnecessary restrictions on production. In a minority report, Professor Murphy advocated that all wheat and flour duties should be abolished, but with all respect to the Professor, he disagreed entirely with his deductions. Bread was still the staff of life and it was essential that they should be independent of outside supplies of wheat.