WHEAT AND FLOUR.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13450, 23 November 1907, Page 2

WHEAT AND FLOUR.

■ ■ ' " —————im YESTERDAY'S REDUCTION: The iinnoiinetiiierit by the New Zealand Flourmiile.s' Association tiiat the price/of flour lias been reduced by 3'Js a ton, making thei price' £l2 IsO as against- £l4, came as ail agreeable uurpris-s; to many wage-earneiti, but the why. and wherefore remains a mystery to many ; and a'Tlerald" representative ' who inad'e, some:. eu-.-. quiries on the subject, though lie.; hea-d of seveial possible ,reasons could not " discover definitely why the reduction was made. In*any axe the fact remains tin-, a drop hits occurred and that ii prob ib!y all riie average. working mail cares: .'iij'Ait, for of late he h;:is been feeing the p.nch caused by the high prices of varijus ..cow-!' modifies. THE PRICE OF BREAD. It is understood, from information gleaned from a reliable authority that en Monday, 2nd December,-the price, of bread' will ba reduced by. a half-penny per- loaf, making the price 7£d cash and 8a booked for the four pound loaf, providing, of : course, thai no further alteration occurs in the price of flour. The bate s nave a sliding scale by : which the price >/' oread is controlled by the price of.- .lour, • aiid according to this scale''£l 7s 6d per ton in flour is equivalent.to £d perfour pound loaf, and in order. to. ••reduce bread by Id I flour' would need to go back £2:lss*; so that/with a, reduction of 30s in flour i';t i>ric&' of breajji/ wijl be reasonable. , 'the bakers will ,welcome the reduction, for some of theiii have suffered -i culler ible falling off in the volume of their, bniness, especially ..some, of the country bakers, one in particular having lost- nearly 60 per cent, qi liis trade, owing to ihe, recent Jiigri piiccii. The retisoii ' lor lixirig Monn.y week for reducing the. price iu bread j, that the bakem require ac least a week t) get- rid 1 of flour 1 : bought at the high iat-" 3. _ TIMARU WHEAT h Mr Jameson, Timiiru representative ri the Floin-niiUexs' Association,. speaking to a Herald " ; reporter yesterday, said-, he i was nob in a 'position\to give, the Asso-. ciation's reasouj for the reduction in t tie price of Hour by. 30s per ton, but he,sai 1 ihat possibly the show of iiands .by the Americain merchants had something to do with the matter; : These merchants had, for their own purposes created a false, impression as to the quantity of wheat li-tii in e.ores, but the financial depiession had forced them to realise by placing iarge parcels on the market, with -the . result - that pri«e went down. The in America were • not., merchants in the strico sense of the word; they -were.:speeulaxoiV arid' gamblers and did . not .scruple to resort to shady tactics in order to influence 'the market. '.The Canadians, on. the other .hand, had cleaner business methods, ! <tnd their prices and es imatts of stocks, were far more, reliable than those of the Americans. • '• : A prominent. merchant in a large way of business, in rep'.y to questions said the drop in prices did-not. come quite as-a shock to him f.G he was expecting it, but he was ' «Urprieed that the' reduction : was so large. - 30s - a ton on. flour would mean.. at least 4d per bushel lees for wheat, .but. he considered that" the drop would - have merely a temporary-.-effect v on tlie- loctd markets. :He was; inclined to think tliere wils' insufficient wheat in New Zealand!,to suffice till next. Jiajvest, . It .was'.-.hard ;.to say what the object of the Millers' Assorciation was in making the . whether it. was. a bona fideidrop <)n;.account of the better prospects ' prevailing in Australia, or a combination of ' underr stocked' milicfs to force the price.of wheat to a lower level with the object- of buying supplies; or-whether it. was a plan to frighten certain . importers: who have a cargo : "of i4OO eicks of flour- coming- oyer by the Wimmera from : Sydney, or .whether there was really: more wheat in the country than supposed it was dilficulfc to say. Tlie tactics of tlie American wb'uld".'of • course depress " prices in ••America, 'bui lie was not prepared to admit that- the American position cotfld have any effect here. Asked if he. thought tlifise farmeie who still held stocks of wheat- would .rush on to the market and tiy and realize he «aid lie did not think they would. He. considered , tliiit as the drop /would not be of a long-lived nature holders' would be. justified in holding onto what they possessed. : POSITION IN CHRISTCHURCH. REASONS FOR THE DROP. CHRISTCHURCH, November 22. There is practically no wheat offering .as holders, after refusing a higher price, are naturally. not anxious to accept what is now offered, 5s 6d at- country i;tatior.t> biing the outside ••'limit. At this .figure milleis arid merchants', are "not kte'n to operate in view-of the • reduction in the price' of flour. On Thursday the Flour Miller.? Aesociatioh lowered the price for sacks from £l4 to £l2 ! 10s per ton.' This was evidently necessary from the'fact that flour was down" to £ll in Sydney. and Melbourne, and there was thus: a margin of £3 • for importers to work- upon. ■ A considerable quantity of Australian , flour has beeri - cotning'irito'New Zealand," the Wimmera bringing over 1340-sacks from Melbourne as well as 50 sacks 'of ' v.-heat."