INDIA'S CORN PROBLEM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 306, 4 June 1915, Page 4

INDIA'S CORN PROBLEM.

The announcement tliat the Indian Government has deckled to control the export of corn with the object of preventing a corner and its consequent inflation of prices, is likely to create great interest, just as the plan is sure to produce far-rcadiing results. Agriculture in India is not an independent industry, for the reason that a failure, in crops is due not to the negligence 0 f the cultivator, hut to the weakness of the rains. This, being the ease, it is assumed as » matter of course that whenever and wherever there is scarcity in Tndia the authorities will he prompt with remedies and generous with relief. Orore after vrore of rupees has hecn spent, and rightly so. in helping the suflering cultivator, and now a new scheme is to he entered upon. This year there will lie a substantial margin on the Indian spring wheat crop over her domestic requirements. Jf t] ia j margin were sold for export in the usual way the price obtained abroad would tend, to become the price in Tiulia, and so indict much hardship on the Indian poor, but the Government . action will I stop all that, for it will meet the dan-

ger of starring the home market by cornering the export business The trade ia to continue, but the dealert will become the Government agents, buying as much or as little as they are ordered to buy, and receiving a commission on their purchases. The Government has devised a scheme whereby Indian prices are to be kept below world prices, and there is no reason why it should not lie a permanent and highly beneficial selieme. Thia cornering of the market may well bo regarded as a new economic weapon in the hands of the Government, but it is not at all unlikely that the cultivator may look upon the matter •in a different light, for it is the custom of producers to expect the highest price the market is offering, and lie does not readily acquiesce in being deprived of exceptional profits when opportunity offers, though in times of dearth he is not above seeking assistance from the Government. In India, with its teeming millions, it iq ir-v-ative that the welfare of the mar- must take precedence of the advantages of the few, and that fact is ample 'justification for the .Government's action, for inaction would have meant food riots. It is, therefore, only in accordance with sound principles and with the general policy of the Government that steps should be taken in good years, no less than in bad, to secure the consumers a sufficiency of food at a price within their means. The most difficult part of the scheme will be fixing the price at which the Government proposes to buy. It i 3 obvious that it cannot he based on an Indian price, x for such a basis does not exist. In strict theory the price should bo such as will yield what the Government considers a fair profit after cs<nmisslon and transport charges have been met, that profit to go into the Indian treasury. The terrible visitations of famine in the past have made it necessary for a large store of corn to be accumulated to meet bad times, and the decision of the Government to control the export as well as to secure a reasonable price is a measure that might well have been jnit in action many years ago, and not leit to the urgency of wartime. Still, it is better to move now than to remain inactivo any longer.