FLOUR AND BREAD.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 528, 8 June 1909, Page 6

FLOUR AND BREAD.

<_ i f—, :. RUMOURS OF A GRAIN CORNER. AND A FAMINE HERE IN AUGUST. (nr TEbEaiUl'H-BfBOUI, UimiIESI'ONDENT.) Auckland, Juno 7. Inquiries mado locally by a "Herald" representative regarding the wheat market and tho broad .market elicited certain information, nnd if the position is as bad as it Was represented to be, then a flour famine would 6oom imminent. Ail' informant, prominently interested in the' bakery trade, snid that dear as flour how H'as, at £12 10s. per toil, in Auckland, i< ou,giit to t)o selling at £13 per ton at least, in order to allow tho:millers a fair margin of prolit. lie believed that they were losing litolioy at prosont, Tlio market quotation for wheat in New Zealand was at present tho lowest in the world,, but it was very unroliftblo to take it ns n guide, as tlio farmers knew their strength,'and would not Bell,at that figure, tho consequence being that tho millers had to pay ■through the nose. At the present time there Was a great shortage of wheat throughout tlio world. ' • . . OUr prices Governed by London. It Was a wolMtnown fact that tho New Zealand market was governed by London, tho consequence being that tbo New Zealand millers bad to pay far ftbbvo, tho local market) quotation. At present there wns hot a par* ticlo of New Zealand wheat ill London, Tho reason why it Was cheap hero was because therei ft-ere no shite to take it away. It was costing tho NciV Zealand millers too . much to manufacture dour at preeeut, and oniv ■southerner , had fourid that. ho could mako far moro 'money by exporting the wheat than by tanking it into floUr. ' Our surplus doing Bought Up. At pfcsfcnt Nuw Zealand had ft surplus of 2,000,000 bushels (if wheai, which wofli boisg ' held and two Ships \V6re iio\v oft thcit Way oMt to New Zealand to lift it> find two • Atistfalihns were coming over to buy up every available bilsliel 6f wheat in New Ztsnlaiid. By August iiext tliete', would, iii all probability) bo . Hot ft bushel left in the Dominion ,' and flotfr Would at leaet jtttnp up to £14 per toil, with, of course, n ebrrceponding. increase, ih tho price t>f.broad. \' : ' the Stfugglo Too Much for Bakors. •As to tho present prico of bread, it oilght t according to tho.price of (lour, to bo Bjd. tbo 41b. loaf instead of Sα. During tho last eix years there had been an advance of from 15 ' to 20 per cent.-in connection wijJi tho tnantfaetui'iiiff of bread, and bakers—so keen, Was competition—were barely making profits. II I'fenti were selling at 3jd.,per 21b. loat,,th6 local bakers would'bo losing £3 on ov.ory ton of fiovlr they ÜBtid, flour now.boing £1210s. per ton in Auckland,, Tho Mice of tho 41b. loaf here should therefore-, bo 81d., instead' of Bd. Since this scajo has been ndogted, th« Auekland bakers' hntl been faced with tho additional expense- caused by an Arbitration Court award the other 'day, whereby the 'working: hours of■':employees hail been de- - crensei!. This wascOßtiHj; balcfcrs on an hver- . ago a further 10s. por week for each man.-, counting timb as against wages. Up till May 1 Inst, bread hud only been hI. per 41b. loaf la 'bilkers having kept to that, prico ox< pcotirtg the market, to easo, '■ Strange Feature of the Market. Anotli6r itifbrhiahtj'Well vdrscd lit tho flour mailifits, said that the millers would bo,only too pleased to get it'uniform scale fixed for ■■ tho.pfict) of wlietit, ilour, nnd bread, so that thej; - could, all bb ill a wclKundcfstood' ratio. As it was at present, it was riot unc-oinftlon to See wheat going Up* tiiid flour coming down in pi'ice nt ont? and the some time. In tlio south tile bakers Were able to regulate tlio price of bread 'by the ; farthing scdlo; hero it was by tho halfpenny. By tho farthing swilo baltefs wol'o abloto regulate jbre'ii'l by 15s. per tori according to the prico of flotif) but by;a>fhalfpenny- on the 21b. lonf they could rcgulato it ))y £3 per ton, ...,-.

THE DOMINION WHEAT CORNER.

IS IT A CANARD P . ,' tDi TEI.EGRAI'II —T'UF.S3 ASSOiriATION.i ;. •. .: ' ChMstohlircht Juno 7i Mr. H. Wood, okairinan of the New Zea> land Floitrmillers' AEeocialioni seen to-day regarding the,, message from Auokland that two Australians have left for New.i. Zealand to buy up all surplds wheat, and that two onrgo boak alo oil their way out to' skip the grain, and that, by August next, thero will not bo a.particle of wheat left Ul , the country, and that flour and bread will shotf strongly an adyauco in price 'in eonsequencd, said that ho had heard of nothing of tho • sort, and ho thought' that, if nnythiiig, of 1 tho kind was contemplated, those interested : ii'ould not: have allowed any information to • leak out before they bad secured tho grain. Srt far as he. was awiire, .there had been no buying on any. soalei In fact, for the past week of tivo business in wheat had beeii of a liaiid-to-ifiouth character; Ho looked upon the information tie being in tho riaturti of a canhrd, of as having been put ' in circulation by potions who arc. probably ' anticipating h.dissolution of tlio association, aAd arc'desirous Of keeping up price or ! wheat. ..'•■' ' !'• .' w Reßafdiiig. the assocUitioil s aifairs, Mr. ! Wood said tliattliefo wns.no hews that he ' could givb fof : publication. ' ■ ■ ...