SHORTAGE OF OATS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 280, 20 August 1915, Page 7

SHORTAGE OF OATS.

EMBARGO ON EXPORT TO BE MAINTAINED.

“It is very doubtful if the supplies of oats in New Zealand at the present time are sufficient for our own requirements,” said the Prime Minister last evening. “Th e Government is in this position, that at one end of the Dominion there are people clamouring to have the duty removed in order that importatoins may take place, while at the other end of the country people are asking that th e embargo should be lifted so that oats may be exported. The information at the disposal of the Government indicates that there is a shortage, and that the embargo on exports should be maintained. “It is not as easy to collect precise information rgarding stocks of oats , as it is to ascertain how much wheat there. '.ls 'll ''the Dominion. Many people put their oaten sheaves into stack, and then decide in the spring either to thresh it or to turn it into chaff. They are guided by prices. But as far as w e can judge there is barely sufficient either of oats or of oaten chaff to provide for local requirements, even when allowance has been made for the reduced consumption caused by high prices. We shall know the position better a little later in the season, when I intend to ask the Registrar-Genei-al to collect information again regarding stocks of both wheat and oats. If we have more oats than we require for local consumption, the embargo on exports will be lifted to a , certain extent. If supples are still | short tho embargo will b 8 maintained.”