THE WHEAT SHORTAGE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2393, 24 February 1915, Page 8

THE WHEAT SHORTAGE

■ CONTBAST OCbntrifatcd.) •. Surely ibo.'irony of circuiastances was •-. rjiovor better, illustrated than when tlio <: , .Ccmmomveatth Labour : . Govornnient, .illrnnigli its Attorney-General, had to fset the law ■in motion to compel tho :rv; s lSfcate'.Labour. Government of New Sontb i -Vv-'-jWaies ■to • tefinqoish rts hold upon the - "Iwheafc-.supplies of tho' State, which it .fcad "-commandeered 1 '-under the Wheat i ■: MAcquisibon Act, the passage of which it i 'secured during the closing month of last . -.-year. The cucnmßtancos are cortaialy tniiqiie. • i' ; :', i! Two' -LftboiD* Govenrmtmt® came into over action said to have been - ■ 'taken in the interests 1 of the people, ;:who were allied to be at tho meioy ■■ v, of a of producers ■ and . merchants, i' •. fconsfcituting, in tho Labour vernacular) . -(the "exploiting".; class. To restrain the mipaaty of which' thafcvclass was said "to bo guilty, the; State , Labour - ; Gov-. i.;..!Drnment too|; powers'that no : > jlGcvernmeui/had' previously assumed, ■ and of whick it not only seized :'{iat tho, flat rate of ss. per bushel, all the Svheat' held in tho State (privately or ■- ;otherwise), hut also iiio grain from the then:. ungathered_ harvest. . iVoni the coni,sumei;?s standpoint, notfiing* ,havo •.'.'••.leaa* better, .and- r -,the ; ''-GOT9nnnent's, actioli' was acclaimed as an act' of "far.S.iiseehlg statesmanship," the robbery and .-. involved m the business being •, producer, • «v7jrtewTn£:jfe.in;an. altogether: different flight, was not: slow in protesting against tfhe in which the State ■^idyciliqseil';to:!''exploit" -his;- in-, it nrust be conceded he had good grounds for complaint. ■ TlierSi ih'y as most people;know by .this, tinift, sh<>rt.ago, ,of -; the'ewhivpf which are v accentuated - by., ' .IJie' w&,in Europe, l-ostilities aro'looking jor supplies''m other countries. Australasian States are suffering from a long- . continued-drought which has resulted in /,-. ,:the failijro. of the crops in the wheat■v growingf'distncts, and, instead of ex- ■ I«3rtmgj?.they 3re reduced to the neces-.--sity :..'X'.bfv-- importing, the grain supplies, ~ t and broadstuffs, that are 60 . necessary:'to the continued-existence of .. -their peoples. Of the Commonwealth . 'Stales,.'Notv South Wales-alone appears surplus, aud, in "comman- . supplies, the State' Govem- ,. Mont ~ deprived the producers of the - " opportunity of reaping, in the open mar- . kete Commonwealth, .tne. real ; . . value of-vt-heir crops. At a tune when . tho Government, of New. South Wales • nas arbitrarily taking . possession of , orery bvshel of wheat garnered: by the v. giowers ; -at. 55.. per -bushel, wheat was : r iselhngi-in-vthe adjoining .State of Vic- ; ./. ioria at:6sr 3f1., and at correspondingly rates in the other States of the >. Commonwealth. The producer, was thus ■ Josmg satfjleast; Is. per.- 1 bushel on -bis ■ crop, an(l*thak too;\Tvhen he . was de- . -tne -higher price his gram , - .would command: to vmake: good the Joss , occasioned ,1 by,-his shortened . crop—the ; • New. South Wales farmer, and grower : : lhavingveuffercdj, in common with his . /jVictonan-'and .South Australian neigh'bours, Tfrorn - the . drought -which - had also affectefl- his crops. .However, it was not so much, conoern for the pro- ■; ducer • thai brought about the Oom- : monwealth Government'B interference, •as the fact: that the miliars of the MothoT State were able to supply flour bo much cheaper than the Victorian' ;/ .millers, as. a result of -the "conimandeeniig"- 'of- tho wheat stocks by the <,-State 'Government, and consequently the -Victorian trade ■ suffered to such •an extent as-to -justify the matter bemg v; referred' to the Intcr-State Commission, , which we now learn has decided that •tj the- State Government has exceeded its I powers in ;seizing tho wheat, and tlus interfering with free trade within the Siates of tho Commonwealth. . v

Methods In Contrast. _• It.is purely permis3able, at times . eucli as this, Vo contrast- tho methods, pursued by. tho various ' Australasian ;;;Govemmient6 to provide for tho require .-ments/bf'their respective peoples, so (Prfax-'ai bread-etuffs are concerned. The "•■New Zealand Government has been, for not following the example *; set; by New • South Wales., Even... so $.gTeat ah authority as Sir Joseph Ward ■, : ? (whb, ; himself, .by the way, ditt nothing . to relieve the situation in y i ;l9W v wheii. New Zealand was face to iy fice sitli' a. similar shortage in. its' ! T wheat 'Applies) has spoken' with .approval of the $iew South. Wales action,., and 1 ■ English'labour politicians, such as Mr. ; ' Ramsay .Micdonald,vwith'iiio real knowr,ledge of. ; : : thi6;. facts, have extolled the methods of tfe Australian Governments ;which Vthey apparently assume are all ibasedon the . Now, South Wales model of.■. expropriatioi, and; confiscation, for. ■'SUch'vin'plain Ejglislr is .wha.t the State. "'iGovemment's'action there amounts to. 'The,position lin'-New;.Zealand is very ■ idiifferent'to that which Sir Joseph Ward . ;asOTped it to te, when he gave as; his • jpinionothat the Government, should fha;ve-"commandeered" the wheat supplies. :. Nothing is clearer than Vithat there was no wheat in the co nil try ' jto; "commandoor. I '' /For/two years in the crop's have fallen at least a million^bushels.short : of tho annual frapttrjimciits, .'and; whatovcr .'surplus f :may^haTO; ; b'oMV;le% over .froin former ye^si''vhaßlong;sinfe.-disappeared.; The cuirenfi.-harvesli.wilhbe.at least:1;500,000 liusliels '"Short of this' year's require- ■ „ the-o'uly re...;.lief : thafcl can ;bo' .lcoked:'for,' from:..the :'i" i'T<*iy;ujisa±isfMtoi7i 'situation .i&us dis- ' closed, is liy-'mdans of. large • impo'rta- „• tions.i-Thes€i., as';m'<)st newspaper readers '.fflihu^Ofo'lifefei,':haye' been, arranged for, i ;Eiglrt"-jaon.; ••••JwiflwMaigey, who, as-soon as the facts of .'tlw^short^ge^were,. ascertained, aphave,laid his* plans in such,a good, the deficiency.' tho.firsfc place Mr. Massey.arranged, or sioii~ of the duties on flour and also for the purchase of '.supplies",of;both- commodities; in;Australuifand 1 ' In the case of. the 'Australian-,., purchases, some . , 250,000, ?rash(eJs';of. wheat; were ordered, but only '••46,000 IrasbeJs hai been shipped when the 'Commonwealth Government stepped in and prohibited further .exports. Liter successful in obtaining on loan from Now South •jW-afea, ;ffiaV quantity being paid for at fcherarrknged rate, .subject to the return $»f $£eqtrivalent ; quantity at the same, .'prater.if .required:-by New South W 3 ' 6 ® llater on. ~ f £he Canadian wheat now landling jajiid to-arrive..is worth one shilling f per'cJjishel ijnoiie'than .the Government . ' gD^',for;it r JHid it is worthy of note thai; ' JSid .TasnaniaiF Government, which has for; the importation of : will have-to 'pay at the/rate 1 of ;Bs. 3d. per bushel .• for -its • wheat, landod at either Hobart foresight - fcaj: theroftfr?' saved New Zealand at (castr£2o,oooan the-cost of the 400,000 ] SnshSE obtained from Canada, a further wifl be: saved by tho option he milfion bushels of ; VWy nvheat'. Tho price of flour and ■; .-wheat is,'' now, if anythiug, r easier in ' New Zealand .than it isin Australia, as a Tcsult of the nnportations which, •while relieving the situation, have in mo way prejudiced the wheat-grower. ' The "commandeering" principle is conceivably right when. all other mejthods;;faiJ, and when it is seen that fthose,folding supplies are deliberately, withholding them from the market, so-

people. But, until a, orisis of that sort-arises, tlio Government fitlflls its duty ,to tho public best by augmenting ■ tlio supplies from abroad, and by seeing that' tho market requirements are fully met, thus preventing the exploitation of the consnmer. The failure of i tho Now South Wales plan is apparent m tho decision of -the Inter-State Com-' mission, and in the crop of litigation the Government's action has produced 110 than;,3ooo claims, being made :against it in respect ' of; the wheat, seizures that have been declared to bo illegal, these proceedings being independent, of the litigation with the Commonwealth Government.' In. all the other States of the Commonwealth, the situation has had to be faced, and it is now: rccognised that, only by importations, can .the position be alleviated.