The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1907. THE BREAD BILL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2169, 27 August 1907, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1907. THE BREAD BILL.

One of. the first- impressions of housewives who take up their residenco in Gisborne is the exceptionally high price of bread. Whereas a 21b loaf can be purchased in otlie • parts of the colony for 31 d, and in some cases for 3d, the ruling rate locally is

4d. To a workman with a huge family this places the “staff of life” almost on the plane of a luxury, and, coupled with the Increased cost of living in other directions, the wonder is how many of the poorer classes

succeed .in making both ends meet

The price of flour landed in Gisborne, £ll 10s per ton, does not differ materially from that paid in other towns, and the discrepancy between the rates charged to the public of Gisborne as compared with those ruling elsewhere must be looked for in another quarter. The explanation given by local bakers is summed up in two words —“bad roads.” At every turn our poor supply of metal is found to operate against the welfare of the community, but few would have been prepared to attribute to this cause a clear flax on every consumer of Id per 21b loaf. A local baker assured a representative of this journal yesterday that the extra cost for delivery owing to tho bad roads was enormous. Said lie: “Wo a-o compelled to send out two horses —one for the morning and one for the afternoon—on each round, and even then the round is not nearly so large as can be covered by one horse in other towns. Tho wear and tear on our carts and harness as a result of the strain in ploughing through the muddy roads is very great, and comprises a heavy .item in our expenses.” Tho high price of flour, which is pressing heavily on consumers all over the colony, is attributable on the one hand to tho drought in the South, which seriously depreciated the Canterbury and Otago harvests, and to tho weather conditions of the Old World which brought about a shortage in the crop there. Had it not been for this shortage Australia would not have had such an excellent market for its surplus wheat, and would have been glad to ship to New Zealand at prices a good deal below current rates. As it is, the duty of £1 per ton on flour, which we impose on tho Australian product, becomes a direct tax on tlio consumer, while it enables tho farmers in "wheat-growing districts to demand 4s 6d per bushel for their grain. There seems little prospect of flour becoming cheaper for some time to como. So far as can he judged, the. outside markets are likely to retain their present firmness, and as. New Zealand has barely enough wheat to supply" her own requirements until next harvest, fanners and millers who hold stocks of wheat and flour will, in the absence of outside competition, continue to command h.igli rates. Sbme Australian flour is being imported into the colony at the present time, hut unless London prices recede it is not .

likely that Commonwealth importations into this country will be on a very large scale. Hence until the

world’s markets alter, or the roads of Gisborne ar e .improved, local residents must continue to hear as best they may a particularly heavy bread bill.