THE FALL IN FLOUR.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13449, 22 November 1907, Page 4

THE FALL IN FLOUR.

A Press' Association telegram fronv Ohristcliurch appealing in tins issue is cojiteiib •. with announcing a drop of 30s. a ton.-,,in . •the pries of flour . without addingally explanation of this sudden and subistfrntial , concession to the consumer, who, however, will be more interested iti tthe fact > than in its . cau.se.vl . Apqtt ; from... the interference with trade caused by; the 'financial conditions' in - America, ' there , are a, number of cohsidoratior.o which may have forced back' the liigh j value®, lately. ruling for wheat and flour. There was,. , for .instance,; tin' 1 <;ircui«i'jbanc<v to which we. referred a couplo of days ,ago—an. access in tlie exports of flour from Minneapolis, tending to sho'w that- the phortiige in America was in reality not so. acute as had been reported. Another factpr < making , for a lowet ■ standard of valuer wac. the timely fall of rain in Australia;; ■whi cli, while too 1 at© to give (he Commonwealth a bounteot'fi 'harvesit, was yet in. time to save the crops from ruin, and; to > ensure an exportable surplus which:, ttlfc cautious estimate of Barling and Soil Bets - down at 14 million bushels. " Undter t-lio circumstances," <&ay» a recent i report b.V this fiim, "it does not Geetrt as though there was any warrant for the excitement . or advances to have taken place* and "it is only natural, on reflection, together . with the fine reasonable rains we' have just had, that prices should ■ decline to the value of export for foreign mtulcst®. 4 ' Bub without attempting the task from which grain experts themselves Vroilld" n6 doubt shrink of assigning precise reasons for every sudden and violent ■ fluctuation of the market,, we may refer to yeatery . day's retrogression as a • proof of.'thft > - , inutility of the Monopoly Preventkm Bill * put ■'through' by the Government at tli6, instigation of a' few members like Ml? . >

Hogg with the ostensible purpose of regulating th-e price of foodstuffs. " While the machinery provided under the Bill was making its enquiries in the colony, and abroad, and trying to arrive at a " reasonable " price tor wheat- and flour. the market would have time to make half a dozen jumps such r.c. if took yesterday.