AUSTRALIAN WHEAT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 170, 8 April 1918, Page 8

AUSTRALIAN WHEAT

FARMERS AND MR. HUGHES , PLAIN TALK r I ' The wheat pioduceis in Australia ( are apparently not well satisfied vitli the government of their output, and they said so in plain termß at a recent interview which they had with the Prime Minister of the Commont wealth, Mr. "W. M. Hughes. In the course of his talk teethe farmers Mr. [ Hughes used some 1 of the plainest lani guage to the farmers' representatives. i Mr. Trethowan said that the wheat j growing industry was in a very precari- <■ ous condition, and it depended upon t> prompt action heing taken. ;'■ - Mr. Hughes: You had a guarantee '■, for'■ two years, and I- think we were [i the first country in the world to give [ a guarantee.. . , . , ' ['.. '.'Mr. Trethowan: Efforts should he \. made' to secure to producers not only I tKe;'Oo'st of their production, hut also y a; reasonable profit. There was great :- Reason for complaint about the man[v ner in which wheat had been handled. ■~i and millions of pounds had been held f, up. which' should' have been paid to p'roi: ducers months ago. , . ' Mr. M'Gibbon (AV.A.) said that all ( the States, with the exception of ■ South Australia, were in favour of bulk handling. : The.Prime Minister'said there 'was \ practically only one - buyer , for' the i ■ wheat, and to carry the wheat to Bri- \ tain meant a round trip of 24,000 j miles. It was a question of life or f; death to .Great Britain to get wheat g —not Australian wheat, but wheat \r : from wherever it could be brought i quickest. They had sold 3,000,000 < tons to Great Britain at 4s. 9d., which, ;-. at the time, was the true market [• Of tins, only one-quarter had f been delivered. It was argued that I More ought,to have been obtained, but ,! the British Government would be glad I to release Australia from its contract: !. Xney hacTbeen cabled out time after \. tune. _ D,d the wheat-growers, he aski £^ lsh to . } e rellev «l of the conf Tlr^l,^ Gib ? o, \ : , Th ? c H™an of the British Jloard of Agriculture, Mr. Pro- «" fi^ Said Ihat1 hat Aust ralia had sacrir ficed her profits to feed' Great Britain. '' «. • ' H ?g h ? s: l don't know Mr. Proi "*f J°\ .'< A ll , l can say is, that we sold f. at the market pnee. f. .Mr. M'Gibbon: If Mr. Prothero's i.-. statement is- incorrect,: why did the >■•■■ i\. fc Board not g 9fc >* withdrawn? £■•-. iflere was a cable about it. »■" Hughes (hotly)!-The cable is T; the most .ingenious system of lying :. : ever mvented. The British Govern- ,. ■ .rnent bought our wheat'when it had no \. value m hand, and it paid in advance jr.. money which represented £1,000,000 a ; /year in interest. ' It bought it- ber- cause we were part of the Empire, jv and thought it could ship^GOO.OOOtbns F: a month. The war, however, took such ; a turn that it could not ship it. It J. ; has paid £26,500,000 for an ..unrealis- [. • able asset. j.-, : - Mr. Trethowan: What are'the terms !• of the contract? j '■ Mr. Hughes (warmly): You have [/• ,heen told this before. There was noi; thing in the contract about shipping '~. 600,000 tons a month. The statements ?.. „made by,.Mr. Trethowan are inaccur|A ate. '■.-•■"•

Mr. Trethowan said, ships. were going away iu ballast. .:• Mr. .. Hughes said. R«ar-Admiral Olarksonhad reported'that Mr. Trethowan's statements were incorrect, and had recommended that action should be taken. All the tonnage was controlled by Great Britain. Would .Great Britain pay, for instance, 9s. 2d. for wheat in Canada, when she had, wheat lying here costing 4s. 9d. if she were not in want of it? The British Government had been compelled to: repeat its purchases elsewhere at enormous prices to feed the people.

Mr. M'Oibbon: I want to emphasise the point that the Commonwealth Government has advanced no money, but has simply guaranteed repayment to the banks. ; Mr. Hughes: We are now floating a loan, to carry, but >these repayments. Continuing, he said,the Government could not agree to give a guarantee of Ss. 6d.for three years. It would require £27,000,000.; a' year to finance 'such a guarantee; which would mean a- special ■ loan of that amount each year. No Government or. speculator would, buy a commodity three years ahead ,at ss. 6d. there was no tailing what the price would be then. He would submit the proposal to the State Governments.' If the States were in favour of replacing the Wheat Board by a board :ho would also be in agreement.' The farmers of Australia must not forget what thoy owed to the British-Government, without whose fostering care no wheat could have been disposed of.