FIXING FOOD PRICES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1305, 1 October 1914, Page 2

FIXING FOOD PRICES.

GOVERNMENT’S PROCLAMATION. WHEAT, 4S 9d; FLOUR £ll 15s, An Extraordinary Gazette has been issued fixing the maximum price ot wheat and flouri to come into operation as from September 30th, in the following terms : (1) So long as this Order-in Council remains in force the maximum price of milling wheat throughout New Zealand shall be 4s gd per bushel free on board on the usual trade terms at the nearest port; and in case of sale otherwise than free on board on the usual trade terms at the nearest port, then the maximum price shall be a price equivalent as regards the seller to the maximum price above mentioned. (2) When the nearest port is Lyttelton, Timaru or Oamaru, the maximum wholesale price of flour shall, so long as this Order-in-Council remains in force, be 15s per ton free on board on the usual trade terms at the nearest port; and in case of sale otherwise than free on board on the usual trade terms at the neareet port, then the maximum price shall be a price equivalent as regards the seller to the maximum price above mentioned.

(3) Nearest port” queans port of entry under the Customs Act, 1913, at which or nearest to which the goods to which the contracts relates or which are appropriated to the contract are situated when the contract is mace, or when they first thereafter come into possession or disposition of the sellers. (4) Nothing in this Order-in-Council shall apply to the sale of flour in any case in which the nearest port as herein defined is any other port thau Lyttelton, Timaru and Oamaru.

In the House on Tuesday night, Mr Witty charged the Government with delay in fixing the price of food stuffs. For seven weeks they had been vascillating on the question, and although they had had the Commission’s report on the price of wheat and flour for ten days, they had done nothing with it. Mr Massey, in reply, claimed that the commission was a good one, and thoroughly impartial. It was absolutely untrue that the Commission’s report had been referred back to them because the prices fixed were too low. The report of the Commission on the price of wheat and flour suggested the price of good milling wheat at 5s 3d per bushel, and flour at per ton. Concluding, the Premier deprecated statements calculated to show that the country was in a bad way. The Commission was still sitting, and would go on dealing with the price of meat, sugar and drugs. i

Sir Joseph Ward said he knew ot no one who had decried the country, but it was useless to say that everything should go on as usual. They could hot meet difficulties by slapping themselves on the chest. There was going to be difficulty in getting away their produce to London. The loss ot the refrigerated vessels taken as transports and the sinking ot the Kaipara meant a difference in the carrying capacity of one million carcases. Ships would not be available in December and January, and these refrigerated ships would be undeniably locked up. Mr Buxton claimed that his figures regarding the wheat supplies a month ago were well within the mark. Well-informed millers told him that there would be a surplus of 2,000,000 bushels at the end of the year. He was informed that the cost of wheat to the farmer was 3s id on the trucks. The difference between that price and the 4s gd fixecj, by the Commission was particularly large.