THE STAFF OF LIFE.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 January 1920, Page 7

THE STAFF OF LIFE.

ANOTHER RISE PROBABLE, WHEAT POSITION DISCUSSED. The increase of the export price of wheat in Australia to Ss IJd per bushel, and the problem confronting the New Zealand Government respecting the price of flour in this country, led to inquiries about the likelihood of another rise in the price of bread in the near future. One authority spoken to on the subject remarked: "There is every likelihood of a rise, and a big rise. The export price of 8s ljd f.o.b. in Australia really means about 9s 6d a bushel landed here, and as the controlled price here is 8s 6d per bushel, with the flour at £ls per tons, means a four pound loaf at lOd you can, guess the sort of subsidy the Government will have to pay to keep the price of the loaf from making a big jump. The price of the loaf is going up everywhere. In Australia now the loaf is lOd, with the local price of flour at £l3 10s per ton, fixed by the Government, while the export price is fixed st £lB 10s, and then only one-eleventh of the pre-war export quantity allowed to leave the Commonwealth. What pan we expect here. The only alternative that in my opinion is likely to prove satisfactory is for the Government of this country to put the protective tax on flour on a parity with the Commonwealth import tax, which is £2 10s per ton, as against our £1 per ton. If, instead of buying our wheat from outside, a substantial protective tariff were placed on it, I believe the whoU problem would ba much more satisfactorily settled. It would be settled by the farmers themselves growing enough at least foi the Dominion's requirements, although it would mean a certain amount of trouble for a year until a surplus had been obtained in the supply. The fear of ex-, ploitation by the millers is a p'.ire bogey, because competition in the milling trade in this country is too keen to give the millers a chance to exploit."