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THE PRICE OF WHEAT

THE FARMER SUPPERS AGAIN. . Sir,—l was. glancing, at .the ".lustraltisian' of 20th. ultimo' and learned, to ■my surprise, that wheat for shipment to New Zealand and other places enumerated had been advanced to Bs. per bushel, while that for gristing purposes in the Commonwealth for local consumption is ss. per bushel. The landed cost of this wheat in Now Zealand cannot now be less than !)s. per bushel, without duty, which, strange to Bay, is tho figure guaranteed by the. British Government for locally grown wheat, the yield of which is also guaranteed up to the average of 32 bushels per acre. >

'The last wo heard from tho Hon. Mr. Mac Donald was that' the price fixed by him for next season's crop was something in the region of ss. lid. per bushel or certainly short of Gs., but how he arrives at this figure in tue face of local conditions is difficult to determine. Perhaps, like 'l'opsy, he dreamed it, for I don't think the price of wheat could have been adjusted and reduced by any process of logical reasoiung.

The cost of cultivation has largely increased. Ploughmen and harvesters wages have gone up more than ICO per cent., ploughs and other cultivating Implements about 50 per cent., horse covers 100 per cent., seaming twine and' corn 6acks about 300 p.n- cent,, fencing wire and staples used to fence oft' the' crop about 400 per cent., and the honourable gentleman may be surprised learn that the farmer's own. cost of living has gone up in sympathy .with the coftl miners, and partly in consequence of his "go-slow" policy, as coal for thrashing is much dearer and difficult to procure. • .

Tho Board of Trails and the National Cabinet who, I suppose, controls it, may eee something to justify the reduction in the price of wheat from 6s. (id. to ss. Gd., but from the growers' point of view everything points to a large increase instead and something in the nature of a guaranteed yield as well, 'on the lines of the Imperial Act. -The-philanthropic efforts of the New Zealand farmer have all been in vain and have fallen very far short of the good intentions which actuated them.

His beef and mutton, parted with to the Imperial Government at 5(1. to fid. per lb., has, we are informed by Sir Thomas Mackenzie, been sold by them to retail butchers at.ls. 3d., or a profit of about Gd. per lb., to lessen the cost of meat of lower quality purchased 1 from the. more astute ' American and Home farmers at about double or treble the price. His wool, sold for him at much under its value and handed over to our woollen mills at about'!i halfpenny pep lb. over commandeered price, has not prevented them, with tho assistance of softgoodsmen and drapers from exacting no less than 455. per yard for cloth, whicli at the price paid for the'wool, could be produced at about ss. per yard. His butter and cheese is being doled out to retailers by tho, British Government at about double the price paid to us for it, and distributed by them to consumers by the ounce,at about Is. per, lb. ' / As for wheat,, the Board'of Trade, or the Hon. Mr. Mac Donald, or tho National Government, have, by fixing Ihe price of flour and bran and pollard for the millers, constituted them tho biggest exploiters in the community, as tho sum allowed to them for gristing is very nearly four times as niuch_ as tlfnt granted to the Australian miller, who regards himself as well paid. Mr. Massey really look into the. wheat and flour business as well as the wool commandeer, referred to in another letter published by _ you. The millers are making more profit than they have ever done, without any pull at tho Consolidated Eund, half of which, I may remark, is contributed by the farmer, and the 575. Gd. per ton represents a subsidy to the miller of a penny upon every 41b. loaf, consumed in the. Dominion. How different the treatment meted out to. farmers by the Board, of Trade, who must have devoted about half their time to regulating -the price of butteiand forgotten about middlemen.—l am, etc., ® ■ ■ , EARMER.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19191018.2.18.1

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 20, 18 October 1919, Page 5

Word count
Tapeke kupu
712

THE PRICE OF WHEAT Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 20, 18 October 1919, Page 5

THE PRICE OF WHEAT Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 20, 18 October 1919, Page 5

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