AUSTRALIA'S WHEAT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2925, 10 November 1916, Page 6

AUSTRALIA'S WHEAT

OPERATION OF THE POOL STATE PURCHASES ON HUGE SCALE The operation of the Australian wheat pool, probably the biggest financial scheme of the kind on record, was described to a reporter by Dr. S. S. Cameron, Director of Agriculture for Victoria, who is at present" on a visit to Now Zealand. Tho pool was established at tho end of last year, wheii tho Commonwealth Government desired that every bushel of wheat must be sold to tli'c Federal authority, which would pay the farmer a fixed price, sell tho grain, ship it to the markets, and makei arrangements with the millers. The scheme saved the farmers of Australia from enormous loss, and it is not expected to cost the Commonwealth anything when the final settlement of accounts is made. •

The pool, explained Dr. Cameron, is controlled by a Wheat Board, composed of the Commonwealth- Prime Minister and the Minister for Agriculture in each of the States. There is also an Advisory Board, composed-of representatives of the wheat shippers. The Wheat Board. takes possession of all wheat produced in Australia, and gives the farmers _ certificates in exchange. Tho banks will pay the farmers 3s. per bushel on the production of these certificates. The original price was 2s. 6d. per bushel, but the board found it was able to sell the wheat for more than the estimated price. Some of tho wheat brought'slightly over ss. a bushel f.0.b., and the balance over the price paid the farmers covered carriage, 'storage, handling, charges, etc. By issuing wheat certificates to farmers the Government has incurred heavy liability. In January, February, and March of this year, when many certificates were presented, the banks paid very large sums of money to farmers; but tho Wheat Board sold several shiploads of grain, and the money realised was placed against tho sums advanced. The largest advances outstanding were in April, when £17,000,000 represented the difference between the value of the wheat certificates issued to the valuo of tho wheat sold by the board. Sinco' April deliveries of wheat by farmers have decreased, and sales by the board have increased. Tho sum outstanding, consequently, has been greatly reduced. Whon Dr. Cameron left Australia a short time ago it was about £8,000,000. It is thought that the scheme will bo kept in operation for at least three years. _ About half of last year's crop, is available. There are still some huge stacks of wheat at country sidings, but the bulk of the unsold grain is on tho sea-board, ready to be shipped, and it is expected that the shipping facilities will be greater in the future than they have beon since tho scheme was initiated. ' Thero seems to be an impression amongst New Zealand farmers with whom Dr. Cameron has conversed, that -because only a part of the crop has been sold, farmers have received only part of the payment' for their produce. The impression is a wrong one. Farmers have been paid three shillings a bushel for all the wheat handed to the Wheat Board, which/ holds the total quantity, with the excep-i tion of the portion sold. j The pooling scheme, which was pro«'. posed by the Victorian saved the Australian farmers from S, disastrous situation. They had enormous stocks of wheat in hand last year* and they could not sell owing to the shortage of shipping and tho uncertainty created by the war. Very many of them 'needed money badly, since they had suffered , a drought in tho previous year. "The farmers were a hit suspicious of the scheme at first,", said Dr.--Cameron, "but'they soon realised its benefits." It is "a. rather curious fact that this piece of practical socialism was originated -by tho only non-Labour Government in Australia. ,