GROW MORE WHEAT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3043, 2 April 1917, Page 8

GROW MORE WHEAT

Government guarantee to' FARMERS. At tho Nortli Otaco Stow, in Oam- ; / &ru, on Monday, last, tho Hon. \\\- D. S. JfacDonald, addressing about. 250 farmers, said that last year 218,000 : acres of rrheafc Avere 60wn in tho Dominion. This year, in order to support the country, they needed about 260,000 aoreß. It was sotting late in.the:season aad ho knew that the greatest difv - were facing .tho' farming' com-, munity with regard to labour. (.Hear, hear.) Thero was not a great deal of talk about that / question, but hothought. they .might havo started to ' organise sooner'. -Ho wished to empha- : sisa that-it was. useless for.farmors to go to' tho military boards and ask for : exemptions;unless the.y.'.were prepared to iiso tho labour released in providing foodstuffs for tho Dominioij. Wheat- , /Crowing could be classed as an essential industry which brought thom to ; • thjs position: Wherever farmers wero -. .prepared to grow wheat ho asked them .: to sond their appeals to the . military ' , hoards when necessary labour was he•'inK taken for military purposes. Tho .■hoards knew the mind of tEo Govorn- : menfc, which took up tho position that it) was necessary to exempt labour re- . .qpired for putting in wqeat. Tho Gov- - <jrnment was asking farmers to devoto a largo percentage of their agricultural land to wheat, and if farmers would not mako a straight-out attempt to grow wheat the. Government , would not take, actiom to provide the v. , labour. Ho had a direct promise from the Minister of Defence' that to every *, farmer growing wheat,, whether it was tho services of a sou . that ho required • or another man that the authorities ■ wore satisfied' was really necessary to him, exemptionjivould he granted. 'A! DEFINITE PROMISE. ,'v Tho Minister said (vide, tho "North Otago Times") that as soon as the autumn sowing was over thero would be a strong, attempt, to organise the whole of tho labour, and if men would not i como forward voluntarily legislation ■■■■v- would be passed and work allotted. No one could guarantee what would be '.vdone, but all labour* would be organisod. Now that they wero asking-far-mers 'to grow wheat it would be tho duty of the Government to find the necessary labour in harvest time. If ; - / they did not provide sufficient labour i ; 'they could not blame tho farmer if ho did not grow wheat; If fanners [ v made a definite promise to grow wheat j . an organisation would be. set up to i meet their labour requirements., ' It : had. been proposed that the' Govern- [ . ment pay 55.. 10d.'. for wheat if the i. average crop is under twcnfy-fiVe bush- !■■■■. els, and os. sd. if the average is over J ( twenty-five bushels. Ho was prepared j now to say that whatever the'crop ! 'the price would be ss. lOd. (Applause.) ! -They would tako over, all wheat grown j' -Rt that price. . ' i . Endorsing the newspaper report, a • local --morchant has received a letter •from a firm of millers at Oamaru ; • -'which reads as : follows"The Minisi ter of Agricultuito was hero on Mon- ! ' day, and in an address he made'to the farmers, stated-that tho 'Govern- ' ..jnent had previously promised to guarj- .anteo the farmers not less than ss. sd. ; . .per bushel for wheat, and not more !. . -than ss. 10d., and now states that

tile Government is prepared to go further in order to encourago the farmer to grow wheat i'or nest souson, and they will giiaranteo a minimum of ss. 10(1. If the millers will not give this price the Government will guarantoo to wheat over from tho farmer at ss. lOd. This means that a much higher price for flour next 'season, for even if tho Australian prira is lower, tho Government still iiecd to keep the prico of New Zealand (lour above £15 j 'otherwiso they will make a loss on tho wheat which they guarantee to buy at ss. 10d_. Even now owing to. Hie Governmcift's scheino tho prico will average out at ss. lOd. in July this year, and we would not lie at all .surprised to see'the price of flour advanced after that dato."' Whilst the State-fixed price of flour is £15 per ton, f.0.b., in tho south, and allowing for discounts, it cannot be .landed here under £15 3s. 63. (with discounts £15 17s. 6d.), good Australian Hour can, it is stated, be sold at a profit in Wellington to-day for £1.4 10a. pqr toil. The Defence' Supplies Board aro, it is stated, purchasing Australian flour on contract at that price to-day,, whilst tho fixed prico of New Zealand flour is £15 in tho south.