PRICE OF BREAD

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 263, 27 January 1928, Page 16

PRICE OF BREAD

EFFECT OF NEW TARIFF BUSINESS MEN’S VIEWS The effect of the duties Imposed recently on wheat and flour was discussed at a meeting of the Council of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce yesterday. A letter was received from the Minister of Customs, the Hon. W. Downie Stewart, in reply to an earlier letter setting forth their views. The Minister stated that the Increase in the price of bread they had foretold had not taken place, although the tariff has been in operation for two and ahaif months. The sliding scale of duties was an untried method, but price-fixing and embargoes as employed in the past by the Government had proved unsatisfactory. He believed the tariff would not raise the price of bread. In its reply the council stated that, in a time of falling prices, the imposition of an extra duty, might not raise the price in New Zealand, but could easily prevent a fall. The new duties would result in the price of bread being higher than it would he otherwise. WHEAT DUTY UNCHANGED Representatives of the Auckland Grain, Seed and Produce Merchants’ Association waited on the Comptroller of Customs recently in an attempt to secure a more satisfactory method of assessing and collecting duty on imported Australian wheat. At a meeting of the association yesterday, they reported that no agreement had been arrived at. The regulations will remain as at present.