BREADSTUFFS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 140, 8 March 1919, Page 7

BREADSTUFFS

PROBLEM OF REGULATING PRICES DIFFICULTIES OP THE GOVERNMENT Owing to the increase in the price that roust this year be paid to the grower for •his wheat,'and also to other considerations, it is-certain ihat unless something is done by the Government through the Hoard of Irado the people of New Zealand will .-have to pay increased prices for their bread if they pro to have bread at all.. A statement setting out the fads of the position was node by the Hon. W. D.' S. Mac Donald yesterday. The Minister said that the business was not yet completed. The Government had to pay to the producer of wheat tho price of 6s. fid. per bushel, There was a difference between tho Government and tho wheat-growers, Vlio wore strongly of opinion .that they should have been paid Gs. 4d. per bushel plus sd. per bushel, this representing the duty which is at present payable on Australian wheat. The Minister said that it was the law of the country that the Government did not pay duty on purchases of Australian wheat. "I am not going to discuss this at length/' said tho Minister, "further than to say that if farmers base their claim to an increased price on tho price that' they could obtain by supplying wheat to the North Island, where the Australian wheat is used, they have 110 good ground, at all for their demand. They are already getting the full market rate, becauso it costs from 7d. to Bd. per bushel to carry wheat from the South Island to the North. If the market price f.o.b. is 6s. 6d. and the cost of carriage to the North Island is Td. per bushel, they conld not sell wheat in the North at less than 7s. Id. per bushel. As against that we can. land wheat from Australia at 6s. sd. per bushel. So that the farmer has really no reason to complain. His only, complaint is cgainst-the climatic conditions and not against the Government. "Thr, next difficulty has to do with the cost, of making flour and the cost of ruakiDg bread. Since the arrangements have been made the millers have been faced, they tell us, with a demand for an increase, in wages from the flour-mill hands. The bakers maintain that they are faced' with the same demand from -their hands, arid they say that the cost of bread-making has ircreased considerably since last year. So. far it has been agreed that the price of flour to the bakers shall be reduced from .£ls 10s. per ; ton to .£ls net. 'As to the price to be charged to the publio for bread, we are 'still considering whether there shall be an increased price for bread delivered otherwise than over the counter. We are considering whether bakers should be allowed'an increased amount to represent the cost of delivery. "Nothing has been ('one about the payment of a subsidy to millers," said the Minister, in reply to a question. "There is a slight difficulty between us and the millers. Our arrangement in 1917-18 was that there should be a certain price for the whole of .the wheat grown ,in the season and a certain price for all the flour, bran, and pollard manufactured by the miller from that season's wheat. One of our difficulties with the millers is on account of the fact_ that some of the millers have a considerable amount of wheat held over from last season, and the question is as to whether they shall be allowed to mill that wheat and sell the product at the present- prices, or whether they shall sell ;t at the prices for last year. This question, however, affects only a few millers."