WHERE DOES THE BARLEY GO?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17833, 29 April 1926, Page 1

WHERE DOES THE BARLEY GO?

INTERESTING FIGURES PROVOKE DISCUSSION.

A brief discussion on the question of barley-growing took place at yesterday’s meeting of the executive of the North Canterbury Fanners’ Union. The Government Statistician forwarded the following figures showing the quantity of barley used in breweries and malthouses:—l923, 557,357; 1924, 523,926; 1925, 590,312. This left the following quantities for other purposes:—l923, 38,643; 1924, 29,486; 1925, 285,098. The president remarked that the

figures supplied showed that the production of barley had decreased considerably. He was at a loss to know where the. barley went that was not used for beer. Members pointed out that a good deal was exported for seed, a lot was required for growing purposes here, and the remainder was used for feed. Mr 13. Gillies, who had recently come from Blenheim, said the price up there storage. This had come about by a was 5s 6d per bushel with free bags and conference between the growers and the brewers. Mr R. T. M’Millan said the brewers had to pay more for their imported barley than for the locally grown grain. If the growers got better value more barley would be sown. The growers felt that they should get a little more. The chairman (Mr J. D. Hall) said it was apparent that the brewers preferred to import, so as to be able to dictate to local growers. It was decided to bring the matter before the Dominion executive meeting, and also to communicate with the Blenheim branch.