GRAIN EXPORT TO ENGLAND.
A paragraph, copied from the Timaru Herald, and relating to the above subject, recently appeared in our columns. It seems there was some error in the calculations. The following letter, signed " Z," appears in the Herald of Dec. 15. The editor appends a note, thanking" Z" for the correction : — As the paragraph in your issue of Saturday last, in connection with an account sales of wheat, is likely to mislead farmers, and give them erroneous ideas aB to their prospects in sending their wheat to the English market, I would call your attention to the fact that you have miscalculated the net proceeds to the shipper, and instead, as it would appear, of getting 5s 3£d per bushel, the actual net proceeds were only about 4s < 3d per bushel, not taking into consideration loss in weigh'c by vermin, &c, daring the voyage, and the risk in every respect taken by the shipper. The following are the figures to show the net result : — Net proceeds in England, including sale of sftcks £772 15 10 Dr. — Cost of Sacks 793 at Is 3d £49 11 3 Insurance to England, say ... 10 0 0 59 11 3 Balance ... ... ... £713 4 7 Or a fraction under 49 lid per buahel. Now take off for receiving, delivering, storage, weighing, marking, «fee, say, 2d per bushel ; shipping per surf-boat, 2d ; coasting freight to Port Chalmers for transhipment, 4d ; — or, a total of 8d : when you have only 4s 3d per bushel as a balance for the shipper, and this ia the actual result ; and I reiterate, not taking into consideration the great risk in sending grain for a long voyage. Although I like to see the farmers get high prices for their produce, yet, their being induced to ship on their own account by such statements as made in your paper, is likely to lead to serious results. While the farmers are getting a price for their graio to leave the merchant only a small margin (although the price may be low), I do not think the farmer has any right to run the risk of exporting, with all the contingencies of his grain getting damaged, or going to a bad or falling market; and, with all respect to the farmers, nineteen out of twenty canuot stand a heavy loss even for one season, whereas the merchant, with all his information and knowledge of markets, so conducts his business that in his total exports he will make a profit. Unless the farmer who ships on his own account is in a position to forfeit half the value of his grain, he is not doing justice to himself or creditors to ship, as the result may be unsatisfactory, but he is running the risk of losing his farm and home ; and as the result of the sale of his grain would not be known to him for many months after it had been shipped, probably, if a loss, he might lose the whole of his labor which he had been doing in preparing for the next year's crop. I do not want to dishearten farmers, but it is as well to look at both sides of the question before rushing into a speculation.
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Southland Times, Issue 1519, 5 January 1872, Page 3
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540GRAIN EXPORT TO ENGLAND. Southland Times, Issue 1519, 5 January 1872, Page 3
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