FLOUR PRICE UNCHANGED

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 493, 30 June 1932, Page 18

FLOUR PRICE UNCHANGED

Will Not be Affected by New Scheme. “ There will be no alteration in the price of flour, and the interests of the New Zealand wheat-growers will not be prejudiced in any way as a result of the importation of wheat from Australia,” said a miller who has takeen an active part in the negotiations with the Government. lie said he understood that the Government would adopt the same procedure as was followed in 1925, when it brought in wheat and distributed it to the millers, the difference between the landed cost of the wheat and the price obtained from the millers being retained as duty. The wheat which was to be imported this year would be bought by the Government and sold to the millers through the Wheat Marketing Board. The millers were anxious to obtain this grain, as they had not been able to buy sufficient New Zealand wheat to meet their requirements for the year. The miller stated that Australian wheat landed in New Zealand, after payment of the sliding scale of duty, would cost a good deal more than the ruling price for locally grown wheat. The Government, therefore, could not collect the full amount of the duty, but would sell the wheat to the millers at a price agreed upon, and retain the difference between the landed cost and that price as duty. It was intended to charge the millers the equivalent of the present price of New Zealand wheat plus an increment for extra quality, and he had no doubt that the Government would make a substantial profit, which would go to the Consolidated Fund. The wheat would be rationed among the millers according to their requirements, and there would not be sufficient to leave any surplus in hand on March 1 next year, when the new season s New Zealand product would be marketed.