THE SUPPLY OF WHEAT.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 November 1919, Page 5

THE SUPPLY OF WHEAT.

MORE PRODUCTION ESSENTIAL. THE GOVERNMENT PLANS. By Telegraph—Press Association. Dunedin, Last Night. Mr. Massey, interviewed to-night by a Daily Times reporter regarding wheat production in New Zealand, said it is .practically certain there is not sufficient wheat being grown in the Dominion to ■meet our requirements for the following year, that is, up to next harvest. "In view of the drought with which Australia is at present afflicted, we are being brought face to face with a very difficult position, and we have to realise now that it will not do for New Zealand to depend upon any other country for even a part of its requirements in the way of foodstuffs," said Mr Massey. "The Australian drought may last for years, in which case Australia may be hard put to it to find breadstuffs for its own people. It has now become mora than ever necessary that satisfactory arrangements should be made between the Government and farmers who have land eiiitable for growing cereals to produce the sis or seven million bushels that New Zealand requires annually. "I suggest, therefore, that a conference should be held as soon as possible after the Christmas holidays, and before the harvest commences, between representatives of the. wheat-growers and members of the Government, probably including myself, and an arrangement concluded for a term of three years by which wheat growers will thoroughly understand the position, and also by which, given average seasons, sufficient wheat will be grown for the necessities of the population of the Dominion."