TAX ON BREAD.

Wairarapa Age, 5 July 1932, Page 5

TAX ON BREAD.

IMPORTATION OF WHEAT FROM AUSTRALIA. PROTEST BY WELLINGTON BAKER. WELLINGTON, July 4. Commenting on the announcement that the Government has made arrangements for the importation of 850,000 bushels of wheat from Australia to make up the shortage in Dominion production this year, Mr. W. A. Kellow, president of the Wellington Master Bakers’ Union, said that the public were to get no benefit from the lower price at which the Australian wheat was bought. Mr. Kellow declared also that New Zealand wheat, unless reinforced by imported wheat, was unsatisfactory for breadmaking. An Auckland baker, reported by the “New Zealand Herald,” stated that if wheat could be imported into New Zea- < land duty free during the shortage, it could be landed for 4s 6d a bushel. If the price were Is a bushel less than that ruling at present, it would mean a reduction of £2 a ton, which, passed on to the public, would result in a reduction of Id in the cost of a four pound loaf. The same baker stated that if, during the shortage, the importation of flour duty free were permitted, a reduction of 2d could be made in the price of the four pound loaf. “Bakers feel,” he added, “that it is useless to make any further protest—the wheat interests are too strong. Unless an emphatic and general public protest is made, we feel that nothing will be done.'7