WHEAT AND BREAD

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 227, 25 September 1945, Page 5

WHEAT AND BREAD

DEBATE IN THE HOUSE

EFFECTS OF SUBSIDY, AND WEIGHT OF FANCY EOAVES

(P.A.) Parliament Bldgs., Sept. 24. In the House of Representatives today, Mr. W. J. Polson (Opp., Stratford), criticising the handling of wheat subsidy payments, said there should not be a secret rebate to enable the Government to pose as if it was philanthropically assisting to keep down living costs. The Government was putting over a confidence trick. The Chairman of Committees, Mr. AlcKeen, asked this term to be withdrawn.

Mr. Polson: Then I will call it a want of confidence trick. There is a want of confidence in the Government by many people as the result of' the 'Government’s bread policy, j Mr. F. Langstone (Govt., Waimarino) considered the subsidy on wheat -had cost the public less than if the 1 bakers had been allowed to increase I the price of bread, but he agreed with Mr. Polson that the position regarding fancy loaves of bread was unsatisfactory. Many firms were making a profit on fancy loaves which were underweight. It should be mandatory on bakers to make Vienna, Barracouta and other loaves full weight. Mr. R. G. Gerard (Opp., Mid-Canter-bury) said that if Canadian flour was really costing New Zealand nothing, as the Minister claimed, then the amount for the wheat subsidy was too high. However, wa s it not a fact that Canadian wheat was being imported at about Ils per bushel, and sold to millers at 4s 6d, the balance being made up out of the wheat subsidy fund? The Minister of Industries and Commerce, Mr. Sullivan, said that until this Government dealt with the matter there was no effective regulation of the price of bread. All that was formerly done was that the consumer had a right to ask a baker if a loaf was a 21b or a 41b loaf, as the case might be. If the question was asked and the baker gave a wrong or misleading answer, he could be prosecuted.. But this Government had fixed the weight of a standard loaf, and this standard loaf must be full weight, or bakers were subject to prosecution. Mr. Langstone: The Barracouta la not full weight?. Mr. Sullivan The Barracouta is a fish, not a loaf. The Minister said that the weight of every kind of loar must be exhibited on a placard in the vendor’s shop. Mr. Langstone: But that is not done. Mr. Sullivan said if a shopkeeper failed to display this advice he was subject to prosecution. If a consumer wanted a standard loaf delivered every day, he could order it, but many people preferred fancy loaves, which cost more to bake. If fancy loaves were brought up to the same weight as the standard loaf, they would be more expensive. Mr. Langstone: It is a concession to the bakers; that is all it is. Mr. Sullivan said that everything concerning the weight of loaves was open and above board, and the public knew the position. There had been no complaint to him concerning differentiation between standard and fancy loaves.

Mr. Sullivan said he would like to remove a suspicion that the amount of the wheat subsidy included any payrrfent for Canadian wheat. Canada had extended the date for mutual aid assistance to September 1, with a result we had received between 66,000 and 75,000 bushels of Canadian wheat under mutual aid, and no money had been, or would be, paid for this quantity. He could not say what price would be paid for Canadian wheat imported after September 1. It had not yet been fixed. He believed the price used for accounting purposes in computing mutual aid was 10s 6d a bushel, but the departmental head told him it was about 12s 3d.

Mr. S. G. Holland (Leader of the Opposition) said the Minister usually was very informative, and his experience was that if Mr. Sullivan wag not helpful he had something to hide. If wheat were being bought from Canada after mutual aid ceased, surely we should know what we would have to I pay for it before we bought it. Mr. Holland declared that we were paying 'hundreds of thousands of pounds out of the War Expenses Account to subsidise bread. The wheat subsidy was a consumer subsidy, not a subsidy to wheatgrowers.

Mr. W. A. Bodkin (Opp., Central Otago) asked had the Minister given consideration to giving an alternative price for wheat at the grower’s gate. Mr. Clyde Carr (Govt., Timaru) said that the discussion on the wheat subsidy raised the old issue of a subsidy against a sliding scale for wheat and flour. It was better, he contended, for the Consolidated Fund to meet increasing costs than the man with a laree family. Mr. Gerard asked what was the loss on imports of Australian flour? The Minister, Mr. Sullivan: The loss was £lOB,OOO.