AUSTRALIAN WHEAT POOL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 98, 20 January 1919, Page 8

AUSTRALIAN WHEAT POOL

.REVIEW OF .OPERATIONS. A comprehensive review of the Australian wheat pooling scheme has been issued by the Australian Wheat. Board in pamphlet'form. The pamphlet explains, in the first, place, the origin of the' scheme. . In 'August,.-1915,- four Ministers of Agriculture met "the Prime Minister (Mri. Hughes) to devise a means of allotting the freight which was , to be obtained by'a proposed chartering organisation. At an early stage; it was realised that the situation could (not bo met merely by a chartering organisation, and the wiieat pooling , schemo was conceived with the intention of affording all growers an opportunity of participating equit-ably-in the net returns from oversea business. The decision to v>o] all wheat for the purposes of shipment and local sales did not end the matter, and the services of "wheat shippers had to lib enlisted. 'The nil-im-portant question of finance,had to be faced.-; Fortunately tho majority 'of the banks took a broad view of tho situation, and eventually an ngreenient was arrived at to provide fniids in .■anticipation 'of-'realisation'tit 5 per cent, ".which rate still operates. This, is a fate at which no colonial Government can borrow on the- London market. ..'lt is contended that money is thus iarrnnged at h cheaper rate to finance'wheat ei'owefs than to carry on the war. Millers were brought under control-in connection with the scheme. At first tin; business of the board was quite satisfactory. • The minkot was firm, .and the shipping situation hopeful. The'harvest exceeded the highest estimate, and eventually 162,250.- j 000 bushels were delivered to the pool. With an estimated local consumption of 30,0.00,000 bushels.' this left 132,250,000 bushels, or 3,500,000 tons, for export. The largest export from the Commonwealth in any one year had been 1,700',000 tons. .Sales nnd shipEientsiproeeeded as follow:— ' .-: -;.'•-. ~. Sales. Shipments. ..'■. 1916. " Toils.'"-,' , . Tons. March 31 .... 662,000 433,000 April 30 ..:..'■ 822,000 600,000' May;3l:.;..'. 11,131,000 : .: 831,000 June 30 :.-.. 1,400,000 - 868,000 The decrease in the rate of shipping was not the only discomforting feature to the board. The bottom hud dropped out of the market. Chicago prices wero down to 4s. 4d., and llio'unsold stocks were,'.even on' the""(tttincially cheap freigiitsiUmade . available,. ;worth not more than :25.": Gd. per- bushel. At the end of.the slump a. sale of great value ,wns effected by the Prime Minister to , the Allied' Cjovernnieiits. In the second half.of the, year there was an im-provenient-in,the market, but shipping difficulties; became-' aggravated. The .board'was-unabtfc-'to. sell a single full ■cargo j-c.i.f;.-to .-Europe during .'.the. six ■ months - ended- December'3l, 1916, as I freight unprocurable:: except in j parcels".;'..liy the end of September the total sales,lia/l only increased to-1,406,-000 tons, and- the .shipments' were' ■1,118,000 tuns. During October , and November.-f-.oib. sales to 500,000 and :10q,000-.tqns.to:the'Allies'at 4s. a bushel improved-, the situation. • In the latter month the!'first sale to tho Pacific G'oast-.ljy the sailing vessel Suow and IJurgess;was' the.iuauguiation of entry into tli'o American market'.- In December, '■• 1916, : tli°o'"Mr(;est wheat transaction jiu history took place. The-unsold {balance of the 1915-16 crop, and a large proportion of the 1916-17 crop, were sold to the British Wheat Commission, the total quantity being 3,300,000 itons, and the purchase price at 4s. 9d. per bushel f.o.b. ljeintj £26,600,000. Olio TJ-ljoav campaign'interfere:! with and on December 31, 1917, ■there were still 2,334,000 -tons on hand. The storage arrangements provided that if'less than 2,000,000 tons were shipped by the. end of 1917 the board bu allowed Ojjd. per bushel per month for the"care of all unshipped wheat. lUnder these terms, the Imperial Government has already been asked to meet storage claims' for £1,056,000. Thii weevil damage after January 1, 1918, is aTso on account of the British Government. On October 14 last ■1i651-,opo tons were still unshipped. The sale to the British Government .was the subject of adverse criticism, to which the board replies in its pamphlet. A largo quantity of the wheat purchased by the Imperial Government has bean converted into ilour.

"At present," says tho ■ report, "every mill with reasonably modern appliances is in a position to work twenty-four hours per day. The benefit is not confined to millers. There has been an insistent demand for offals during* the past eighteen months, which. could not possibly have been eatisfied but for the Imperial order. Prices, would have soared, but, with the unprecedented gristings, ■ farmers have had made available to them such a supply as has never been within .their reach before."

Discussing the question of the continuance of the pool, the pamphlet says the. answer is governed very largely by tho shipping position. . ■ Stmj™ on hand are very large, and these must be realised before later harvests can lie disposed of. It may be that after the war wheat will accumulate as fast as it can be shipped, in which event the |wol will be continued for some time.

The pamphlet also deals with the functions of the central hoard and the State boards, tho equalisation of overseas '• returns, the premiums on transfers from London, chartering commission, separation systems, and the payments on account of advance commissions, etc;, and it replies to criticisms that have been levelled against the board from time to time.