THE PRICE OF FLOUR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2953, 13 December 1916, Page 6

THE PRICE OF FLOUR

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RISE? A local flour merchant, discussing the flour problem, said that there is a good deal to bo said in favour of the millers' protest against the action of the Government in taking the duty off the imported flour. Probably that was done at the instigation of the Board of Trade, whom our informant thought had hardly gone deep enough into the question. - \

"As a matter of faot," ' said the merchant, "millers cannot buy wheat in New Zealand and compete with Australian flour that will now bo coming in. ' What should be done in order to keep the price within bounds is for the Government to step in and buy 20,000 or 30,000 bushels of wheat in' Australia. Make. the best terms' they can with thn Commonwealth Government, and sell it to the millers at a trifle over cost. That action would be perfectly justifiable at present, because it is the wheat-holders in New Zealaua who are responsible for the people having, in a perfectly normal season, to pay sd. per 21b. loaf for bread. The war has got nothing to do with it, though a lot df people swallow it, because „tliey think that somehow or other the war is responsible. As a matter of fact, the Australian Government has more wheat left over from last season than it can ship away, and now they have another fine season's crop to handle. They do not export either wheat or flour, and last season was normal, so the price should not hn so high as it is. It is the business of the Board of Trade to get to the bottom of the whole business, and find some means of cheapening the price of bread. People cannot go on paying the inflated prices on the same wages they got when foodstuffs were 5!) per cent, cheaper. The rising cost of living is responsible for a great deal of the industrial unrest, but so far I cannot see that it has been checked since the Board of Trade was set up.