WHEAT POOLS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 892, 8 February 1930, Page 27

WHEAT POOLS

CANADIAN EXPERIENCE The bulletin issued by the Department of Industries and Commerce makes the following reference to Canadian wheat pools: From an article contained in Ihe “Economist” of November 2, 1929, upon the subject of Canadian wheat pools, the following facts are obtained, which serve to show that cooperative wheat pools are now an accepted part of the economic machinery ol Canada: Their remarkable progress is indicated at a glance by the statistics of the volume of wheat handled by the pools since their operations covered all three prairie provinces: Crop Year. Bushels of Wheat. 1924- 81,000,000 1925- 187,000,000 1926- 180,000,000.. 1927- 210,000,000 1925-29 .. .. .. .. 245,000,000 In addition, provincial grain pools last year handled 25,000,000 bushels of coarse grains. In 1925 the pools were operating 89 country elevators, which could handle 20 per cent, of the total pool grain; but during the present crop year they have in operation 1,028 elevators, which will handle nearly 90 per cent, of the pool aggregate; and the avowed objective is to have a pool elevator at every point where there are half a dozen pool members. A policy of acquiring buildings and leasing terminal elevators has also been pursued, and the pools now possess enough storage space at the terminal points for their needs. The pools, controlling as they do about 55 per cent, of the wheat grown in Western Canada, are now the largest single factor in the Canadian grain markets.