PRICE OF BREAD

Hokitika Guardian, 1 February 1929, Page 7

PRICE OF BREAD

WHEAT SUBSIDY QUESTION. EFFECT OF PROTECTION. Tin; Hon. A. E. Coblie, ilic new Minister of Industries mid Commerce, lias linen idling tlie good people of Christchurch tint, ilie liigli price they nre pitying lor .bread is largely due to the heavy cost of distribution. Christchurch consumers, it seems, arc lasti dious in their taste for the “stall' of life,’’ and frequently go far afield to secure the loaves that appeal to their palates. The cost of obtaining them runs into as much as a penny per 21h loaf, and in some eases into even more. Mr ,1. W. Collins, the Secretary of the Department, supplementing tlie remarks of his chief, saul that during the past year the Dominion had imported 751,(HH) bushels of wheat and !),-I(MJ tons of (lour, which meant a loss of to the milling industry. It was a cruel loss, Mr Collins said, when the raw material was available in the Dominion, lie looked for a remedy for this sort of tiling in a conlerouce between a number of State Departments, but did not explain how this was going to help the consumers. CASE FOR CONSUMERS'. The “Evening Post,” which has persistently protested against the Government spoon-feeding the wheatgrowers at the expense of the rest of the community, has no patience with Mr Cflbbc’s wary pronouncement. “.Air Co I die, as a business man,” it says, “knows very well that consumers are helpless in this matter. They are not largely responsible for the overlapping and wasteful methods nl present in existence, lie should know. too. that New Zealand consumers, apart from linkers’ overhead charges, are paying one penny to two ponce more per loaf than the export value of wheat and economical milling justify. The reason for this is to he sought loss in the cost of the distribution of the loaf than in the special favours at the public expense accorded to the wheat and Hour industries.” Whether or not Mr Cobbe has definitely made up his mind on this question remains to lie seen; hut it is certain Unit a very large proportion of the electors of the North Isj land, at any rate, look with disapproval upon the wheat subsidy. LAND FOR SETTLEMENT. The lion. CL AV. Forbes, the Alinistor of Lands and Agriculture. lias been as good ;is his word ill getting the Crown Lands Commissioners and i lie mem hers of the La ml Purchase Board together to confer in to the land policy of the liev Novernment. The question of hind settlement did not reeei che attention it should have dr-'.p at the recent general election, partly been use it had ceased to ci aniand the attention of turban electors and partly because the.

good intention* and earnest efforts of the Reform (Jovernment to people the waste places of the Dominion had not been attended by a great deal of success. Mr Forbes lias the advantage of do years of personal and practical experience in land settlement of tlm very kind the Dominion stands in ".rr !. and. judging from what ho has said on the subject since his assumption of-office. lie is not going to bo easily turned from his purpose of extending tlu' country's area of production. All parties may vrrdi him well in the campaign upon which lie has entered.