MEAT FLOUR AND BREAD.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 December 1916, Page 6

MEAT FLOUR AND BREAD.

drastic recommendations.

Wellington, Dec, 22. The report of the Board of Trade upon the subject of wheat, Hour and '.read prices is not yet available f«r publication, but there aiv indications that it will be fairly drastic in its recommendations to the Government. An impression has got- abroad that- the Government is going to pay the farmers (is 3d per bushel for their wheat. Tiii- was the price .mentioned by the wheatgrowers who attended the recent conference in Christchurch, but, as a matter of fact, there is 110 likelihood at all of the Government paying'the i.irmers so high a price for tliei" wheat. The conference was held in order that the Minister foi Agriculture and tiie members of the Board of Trade might discuss the position with »the wheatgrowers, and the resolutions adopted by .the delegates present had no binding force.

Since the wheat-growers' conference the members of the Board have met the millers and bakers in conference at Christehurth. They have made ;i general survey of the conditions affecting the prices of wheat, flour and bread; they have heard the views of the three parties, and they ar" ready now to make a report covering the whole field. The Board, it is safe to say, will have in mind the interests of a certain party not represented at the conference; that is. the consumers. The recommendations made to the Government are expected to include the fixing of prices for wheat, flour and bread' for the period of the war, and one season afterwards. There are indications that tlii price to be paid the farmers by the Government for their wheat will not exceed 5s per bushel. The evidence placed befor the Board showed that 4s a i.ushel was regarded by t'ae farmers as a profitable price in normal times, and ihe extra shilling is expected to cover any increased costs due to the war. The payment of a higher price than 5s is made unlikely by the reports from Australia, where there is going to be a huge exportable surplus of wheat for the new season, at a time when the Imperial Government is still engaged in moving last year's surplus, acquired for con-' sumption in the. United Kingdom. If estimates are realised, Australia will have 1-25,000,000 bushels of wlie.it for export when the present season's crop is threshed.

If the farmer is paid 5s per bushel for his wheat, the priej of flour will probably be fixed at £l3 per ton. Then the price of bread, according to fie information placed before the Board, could be fixed at 7d for the 41b loaf over the counter, or delivered. The cost of delivery is stated by the bakers to amount to about l>£d per loaf, and it is likely that most people would continue to take the loaves at their doors,- even if the additional charge were defined in the manner indicated. But the fixing of a lower price for bread sold over the ,counter would assist the poorer section of the community, without involving the baker in loss.