THE WHEAT DEAL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3102, 5 June 1917, Page 6

THE WHEAT DEAL

OTAGO 111LLEKS' POSITION. . The actual amount of wheat purchased Vα. Austral.a by tha -New Zealand Government is given as 1.000,000 bushels, Sn ™,i l °i pt . lon of I> urc!lase "f another 500,000 bushels, (he price beiii" o< lid per bushel, net, 1.0.b. (says a Bunedin paper). About 54,600 socks of this wheat is arriving in Buaiedin, ar.d Air. J. R. Hait (a member of the Board 'of Trade met Dunedin millers on Friday last for the purpose of allotting- a quota to each. Iho whole shipment-is beinj? taken bv the Otago millers, and the price to Diuiedin works out at about fa. Sci. per bushel. Oamaru millers will have to pay railage ou this price. The Government fixed price for iSew Zealand wheat is this month r>s. 10tl. per bushel, oi.d the fixed price for iloii.r .115 a ton, f.o.b. Local millers complain that thev cannot purchase tho Australian wheat at 6s. 3d. a bushel and sell the Hour at .115 a , ton, but they have now been informed that they can charge .£lB a ton, f.o.b. This permission to advance their price for shipping by J£\ a ton is, howover, valueless to them, as Canterbury millers are holding stocks ol New Zealand wheat which will carry them on till November—wheat purchased nt about i<. 7d. into their mills—and can afford to grist that wheat and sell it io tho North island at .£ls. Those local millers who have entered into contracts with the North Island to eell at ,£ls are now faced with tho position that they have to pay fe. 3d. for the wheat to make tho llou.r. Some Dunedin millers also maintain that they were warned by the Government not to lay up heavy stocks of wheat, »u« ii' they <lid they would be made to disgorge, and consequently vhty did not buy heavy stocks. Canterbury millers, purchased wheat in large quantities. Some 500 sacks of wheat'i'rom Sydney have been quoted at 4s. 7d.. f.0.b., so it would appear that had the Government not inlei feral the price of wheat, and consequently of flour, would not have been to high as it is to-day. The local price of flour will no doubt now bo shortly advanced tv .£lO a ton.