AUSTRALIAN WHEAT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 33, 2 November 1918, Page 10

AUSTRALIAN WHEAT

i i DUNEDIN MILLERS REFUSE TO PAY ;■■ ': ..;;• -THE PRICE FIXED.. . . • i A 'peculiar position hois arisen in re- ;' gard to the latest shipment of Australian I;, : wheat which has just been brought to !;. .' Dunedin by the New Zealand' Govern- !■' ment, as the local millers havo declined ' to purchase it at the' prices asked, statesj. the:"Otago Daily Times." ' The Governi ..ment, in advising the millers of the ar- \ rival of tho cargo, asked 6s. sjd. per i :bushel. This price is Id. to Hd. higher [■■than that asked from northern mifiere, t ' and the Dunedin millers say that if the j .Government holds out for its prico it I can keep the wheat. Mr. Mac Donald t' .(Minister of Agriculture), in reply to jirof- tests, has replied that the Dunedin mil- ' lers are permitted to charge £\ a ton f , more for their flour than the northern I millers; but the local millers see no ad- (■ vantage in this, for the simplo reason !,-that if they were to charge ..£l6 10s. per (.'■'i'iaa they would find the Oamaru and Tij':maru millers underselling them in Duns edin and taking their market. The Dunf 'e&w millers eay that the Government.is I : trjiat. i» toce them to sell their flour

cheaply, ai)d suffer a monetary losa; but that if the Government is prepared to debar the Oamaru millers from underselling them, - they might. be prepared to pay 6s. 51d. per bushel..'They frankly state, however,' that in that case they would have to' charge JilG.'lOs. for , the flour to the bakers, and that bread would , -have to be advanced in price. As tho position stands at present, Dunedin millers havo charged ss. a ton-right through, notwithstanding the fact ihat the Government proclamation says they could charge £16 10s., and the further fact that tho Oamaru and Timnru millers charge ,£ls ■ lfls. ■

"The reason Dunedin is allowed to charge £1 a toil more than Oamaru, iiniaru, and- Lytlelton is to compensate them for the extra cost of railing New Zealand-grown wheat from the north, where most of their supplies are obtained. The Dunedin millers say they should, be placed on the same footing as Oamaru, Timnru, - and Lyttelton as regards the price to : be paid for- Australian wheat, and have'a uniform. charge for the flour milled from this wheat. They also alleged that the Government, has committed a breach of faith with them— that when the price of .£ls 10s. a ton (with Dunedin millers allowed to charge an additional JJl) ; wns fixed by the Government, it also fixed the price of i\ew Zealand-grown wheat at ss. IOd; ranging 'up to 6s. 2d., with' , 'the (promise that if there was a shortage Australian wheat would bo supplied at equivalent prices. The stipulation nmde by the Hon. Air. Mac Donald, that the millers must send in their cheques before they secure their orders of the Australian cereal, and that they must take their allotment as shin-ped"-that is, whether the quality is good, bad, or indifferent-is regarded as a remarkable proposition. One miller sarcastically remarked that the Minister must.havo thought they were fit subjects for a mental hospital when he made such a proposal, if nothing is done, and the wheat is put into store, it will have to bear considerable exli a charges. (