FOOD PRICES

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 243, 3 July 1915, Page 3

FOOD PRICES

A FRUITLESS COMMISSION.

The burden of the final report of the Foodstuffs Commission, presented to Parliament on Thursday, amounts to an assurance that "all is right as right can be." The Commissioners, in effect say there has been no exploitation of the public as a result of the war. "We have no evidence,'-' they record, "nor was it suggested that there was a combination amongst merchants to maintain a high level of prices. On the contrary, we were satisfied that merchants and traders, with few excepions throughout the Dominion, had need fairly and reasonably, and had not sought to take advantage of the war to alignment their profits at the expense of the public."

As to wheat, the Commission found that the buik of it was held by millers, some having very large stocks, while others had very little. Considerable quantities were held by merchants, and an uncertain, but not very large portion, by farmers. The prices paid by millers varied very considerably. Some who had bought early in the season secured large quantities at from 3/8 to 4/- per bushel; others had bought in August and September at from 4/0 to 5/9. Some of the stock held was covered by forward contracts for the sale of our at moderate prices. Those millers who held large quantities of wheat at low prices undoubtedly made large profits. The margin at no given time between the prices of flour and bread had not, so far as the evidence had shown, been disproportionate. So far as sugar is concerned, it is ■ pointed out that as a result of an arrangement made by an agent, of the Colonial Sugar Refining Company with the Commission that for twelve monks the price should not be raised beyond £2l per ton. New Zealand had had an abundant supply of the best quality of sugar at. a lower price than any other country. The Commission announced that it recently renewed the arrangement with the company for a further period of one year at a maximum price of £2.1 per ton, which, having regard to high prices ruling elsewhere, should be regarded as highly satisfactory. A proposal of considerable importance was discussed at the last meeting of the Otorohanga Chamber of Commerce. The secretary of the Tiopio Railway League outlined the scheme to build a light railway from that township to join the Main Trunk line at Otorohanga, and tapping the Waitomo Caves and Waitomo Valley. A line by this route, he said, offered the maximum return for the money invested. Members unanimously decided to support the scheme, and voted in favour of a conference of the various local bodies and farmers interested. Whether or not the malady has spread from the Trentham camp cannot be said, but there exists at preseni a mild epidemic of measles (in a l'ghf form) in Wellington.