GIGANTIC WHEAT HOLDUP

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 783, 2 October 1929, Page 1

GIGANTIC WHEAT HOLDUP

Crisis Arises in Canada

RESTRICTIONS PLACED ON TRAINS Elevators Filled to Capacity Australian and 2?.Z. Press Association (United Service) Received Noon. WINNIPEG, Tuesday. RESTRICTION of the car supply for the Prairie gTam consigned eastward, went into effect on all railways on Tuesday. More than 72,000,000 bushels are stored in the lakehead elevators which are dangerously near their worKing capacity. Fifty-eight lake freighters at Montreal and Pori Colborne are unable to unload and the congestion shows no sign, of alleviation.

Mr. E. B. Ramsay, general manager of the Wheat Pool, stated that wheat sales to Europe could be effected at the present time, but only at the cost of serious reductions in farm income and a restriction on the Canadian business world. The situation justifies higher prices, he said. Traders state that the purchase of wheat by the British Government wiil be discussed by Mr. J. H. Thomas, Lord Privy Seal, with Wheat Pool officials in London.

It is believed here that the hulk purchase plan is looked on as the last means of solving the congestion situation. The suggestion follows outright expressions of disapproval of the plan for the storage of grain in British elevators.

PRACTICALLY AT A STANDSTILL A later message states that the movement of grain from Western Canada is practically at a standstill because of the congested conditions at the head of the Great Lakes and Montreal, owing to the lack of European orders. A joint statement by Sir Henry Thornton, president of the Canadian National Railway, and Mr. E. W. Beatty, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, said: “The difference in the price between Winnipeg and Chicago is largely due to the

opinion of owners of grain in the west, that the high quality this year justified a higher price, and that as there is sufficient storage in Canada. it is being held in reesrve for that purpose. British and Continental buyers, on the other hand, believe they can obtain present requirements from Argentina and the United States, and that it is unnecessary, in the meantime, to purchase Canadian wheat at a higher price.” Both railways on Tuesday effected restriction on the car supply for prairie grain consigned to the head of the lakes, where the elevators are practically filled, while interior elevators have plenty of space to spare. HARBOUR CROWDED

. Montreal has 51 vessels from the lakes in port to unload, with all harbour elevators practically filled. Orders for transatlantic shipment are rare, and shipments of Canadian grain from Montreal amount to only 46 per cent, of the amount shipped this time last year.

Although Wheat Pool heads are silent regarding the coming conference in London with Mr. Thomas, it is known that the bulk purchase plan which Mr. Thomas announced at Brighton on Tuesday is looked on as a last means of solving the troubles arising from the Montreal congestion.