CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 237, 16 March 1915, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE PRICE 0F BREAD. Some of the Christchurch bakers arc complaining that householders are purchasing less bread now that the loaf lia s risen to lOd, gays the Sun. The fallin-'"-oir may be accounted for in two win First, that there is-less ivasto than formerly < and second, that with bread at such a prohibitive price the housewives are buying hour and making their own bread. In the agitation which has been raised against the high price of the loaf, the blame has been apportioned in different ways at different times; the farmer blames the speculator, the miller blames somebody else, while the baker is sure he is not the culprit. We would direct the attention of the millers and the bakers to a cable message received from Melbourne, which is concerned with the price of bread in that city. As the result of a conference between the flour mill owners and the representatives of the State Government an agreement was come to by which the millers agreed to sell flour at £lO per ton from wheat at 7s 8d per bushel, in order to prevent the price of bread exceeding fld the 41b loaf. Now for our own figures: New Zealand wheat is changing bands at approximately 7s, and to-day flour is £l7 10s peer ton. the Victorian miller, while paying 8d more per bushel for his grain can afford to sell his flour at 30s less than the local miller. What is the reason? Who shall give us the explanation? The comparison as between the New Zealand and the Melbourne flour rate is very definite, and overwhelmingly against the local millers. We will probably be told that the cost of production is more costly in New Zealand than in Victoria, but even with this conceded the extra expense is not sufficient to explain the difference between the priees of our flour and Victoria's imported flnnr, which, when the rates for the wheat are taken into account, amounts to something like £3 per ton. The -significant facts for the Government, the millers, the bakers, and the general public are that the Melbourne "millers are prepared to make £l(i per ton flour from wheat at 7s Sd. while in the Dobunion. with wheat selling at 7s (8d less) the m-ire of flour is £7l 10s (30s more). Ihese Melbourne figures challenge the Dominion millers, and the consumers are entitled to an explanation. To the outsider it looks as though the Vow Zealand millcs are. taking any risks with their present quotations—.that is to put it mildly.