OTAGO PRODUCE MARKETS

Southland Times, Issue 24419, 26 April 1941, Page 3

OTAGO PRODUCE MARKETS

Millers Still Taking

Wheat

(P.A.) DUNEDIN, April 25. . Millers who have yet to take up their full quota of wheat continue to operate, but the majority have now secured all their supplies. The fowl wheat maiket continued steady, the price ioi wholesale lines ex truck being 5/J a bushel, sacks extra. Small lots ex store sell at up to 6/6 a bushel, sacks The value in the country for A P ar .” tons suitable for milling is on the basis of 3/2 a bushel, sacks extra, on trucks. Feed oats are worth 2/10 in the country and B Gartons 3/-. Ample supplies are held to meet the limited demand for chaff. There is no change in values. The nominal quotation is £6/10/- a ton, sacks extia, foi truck loads with small lots ex store selling at higher figures. Districts south of Dunedin are supplying most of the requirements of the local potato market. Digging is now more or less general on the Taieri and at Stirling. The tendency is for the market to become more fully supplied and sales are not so easily effected as they were a week or two back. Because of lack of offerings of seeds from the country little business is being transacted in the wholesale markets. This applies to almost every variety of seed. The markets, however, remain firm. Jonathan apples are still in very heavy supply. Thousands of cases have arrived from Nelson during the week, the quality of the fruit being excellent. Sales locally have been disappointing and the Marketing Department makes no secret of the fact that it considers Dunedin has not taken up its fair quota as compared with other centres; even Invercargill has done better than Dunedin in the consumption of apples.

RESERVE BANK RETURN INCREASE IN STERLING EXCHANGE (Special) WELLINGTON, April 24. The holding of sterling exchange at April 21 stood at £20,083,408, an increase of £447,613 compared with the previous week, according to the return of the Reserve Bank. The statement, with variations compared with the week before, in as follows:— LIABILITIES

Proportion of reserve to notes and other demand liabilities, 51.811 per cent. (51.632 | last week). futurFof pig INDUSTRY CONTROL OF COSTS URGED (Special) DUNEDIN, April 25. “If the Government will control costs and provide efficient and intelligent labour, the pig industry will survive,” said the chairman of the Otago and Southland District Pig Council, Mr W. K. Cameron, at the annual meeting of the council on Thursday. “If, on the other hand, general costs to the primary producer continue to rise, then the destruction of the foundation of the industry, valuable breeding stock, is inevitable and a very serious setback must be faced. This is a fact which dominates the future. If New Zealand is to' take advantage of the post-war world it is essential that the pig industry must be protected now. It should not be beyond the ability of the Government advisers to put forward a practical scheme. The time for theory is long past; the breeding of recorded stock must go on or else the whole effort and expense of four years is gone for nothing. Primary producers want only the truth and the cold facts of the situation, however unpalatable these are. Primary producers will then be able to adjust their programmes, but statements which are only half truths and which bear little or no relation to the facts are highly damaging and tend to panic which is always destructive. This is where the National Pig Industry Council could be of supreme value if it would function as a council of the industry in a practical manner and not as an offshoot of the Department of Agriculture. It is glaringly obvious that the National Council should have one consideration; the Department of Agriculture must necessarily have many. Mr Cameron referred to the war restrictions on exports and said that the bald fact was that the export of pig meat was seriously restricted and that restriction might easily be the introduction to a crisis, which was only I being delayed. Opposition was expressed to a proposal that the offices of the council should be moved to the Department of Agriculture. A motion was carried that the present organization of the council be not interfered with and that there should be no alteration in the pig levy. Another motion carried urged that

a producers’ pool, comprising efficient representation of members of curing and freezing interests and primary producers, was a vital necessity to safeguard the pig industry, but that such a pool must -be free to function without Government domination. PAPER MILLS DIVIDEND (P.A.) DUNEDIN, April 25. The directors of the New Zealand Paper Mills recommend payment of a final dividend at the rate of 4 per cent., which, with an interim dividend paid in November, makes 7 per cent, for the year ended March 31.

£ Variation General reserve 1,500,000 same Bank notes 21,901,801 + 46 Demand liabilities— State 8,901.375 + 694,540 Banks 12,966,507 + 648,980 Other 372,340 490,719 Other currencies 15,030 __ 5,047 Other liabilities 1,185,284 — 282,243 46,842,338 + 630,626 ASSETS Variation ;E £ Reserve— Gold 2.801,873 same Sterling exchange 20,083,403 -1447,613 Subsidiary coin 105,254 + 19,560 Advances— Marketing 2,993,760 — 26,134 Other 15,500,000 same Investments 3,772,569 same Other assets 1,585.473 + 89,657 46,842,338 + 630,696