The Sun FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 1914. WAR AND THE PRICE OF BREAD.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 174, 28 August 1914, Page 4

The Sun FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 1914. WAR AND THE PRICE OF BREAD.

The latest advance in the price of flour must inevitably be followed by a rise in bread, and it is not surprising that the householder should be lifting up his voice in protest. The advance in flour does not seem to be warranted. It has come about, in the first place, through the operations of some of the northern millers, and the Flour Millers' Association claims that it has been compelled to follow suit. In every community there will always be found a number of men ready and willing to profit by the misfortunes of their fellows, though we do not suppose that the predatory instinct is more keenly developed in the flour miller than it is in any other food purveyor. Clearly, the situation calls for prompt and drastic treatment. From-various causes which have been fully explained in The Sun, the wheat pro-, duction of the Dominion is now barely ] sufficient to meet domestic requirements, j This condition of affairs gives speculators a good opportunity at any time to manipulate the market to their own advantage. The war has increased that opportunity tenfold. Panic-stricken householders who were in the habit of buying what flour they wanted, in a paper bag from day to day, rushed their grocers immediately after the war broke .out, with orders for a sack. Mills that had only been . working one shift promptly commenced to work two. The price of wheat has gone up steadily," and any miller buying it at current rates is naturally at a great disadvantage as compared with the man who held a large stock when the trouble started. But there is sufficient wheat in the country to meet the legitimate requirements of the consumer, and there is no earthly reason why he should be exploited. The Government has armed itself with the necessary power to fix prices, and it ought to exercise it firmly and impartially. In this connection the usual foolish agitation has arisen for .the repeal of the wheat and flour duties. If the people who advocate this want to kill wheat growing altogether in New Zealand and make us absolutely dependent on imported flour,- then they should say what they mean. The farmer is not to blame for the operations of the milling sharks. Very little wheat is held by the growers, and in very few instances is the farmer gettiug the benefit of the enhanced price. Why, then, should he be punished for the sins of the miller? If wheat growing were wiped out in tlie Dominion it would be very difficult to farm certain classes of land to advantage, and a considerable amount of agricultural labour would be dispensed with. No one with any real regard for- the future of the Dominion wants to see land go out of cultivation into pasturage. The whole trend of the land policy of recent years has been to bring pastoral land into cultivation, but it is absurd to ask the wheat growers of New Zealand to compete on equal terms with those of Australia. Obviously the right way to deal with the situation is tt> pull the millingspeculator up with a sharp turn by fixing the price of flour at whatever figure a commission appointed for the purpose considers warranted under the circumstances. Then, if the bakers lay thenheads together and seek to take advantage of the situation, they will have to be treated in the same way.