THE WHEAT SUPPLY.

Wairarapa Age, 25 March 1920, Page 4

THE WHEAT SUPPLY.

Dealing with the question of the wheat supply of the Dominion, a southern contemporary says:—"A ■ sufficient supply of wheat can bo assured if the Government will guarantee the grower some price or other for two or three seasons ahead, but, while it is most desirable that the wheat supply should be assured, it is equally desirable that the people should not pay more than is necessary for it. And the, difficulty is that what might be a, fair price'in the next year, or in the* year next after that. If ■in any year a bumper harvest in Australia made available for importation as much wheat, as the Dominion required for, say, 5s a bushel (we take that figuro only for the purpose of illustration), the public would feel aggrieved if the price paid to local growers were 7s 6d. The problem is a difficult one, of course; the Government cannot foresee the harvests and prices of Australia. Nor can it foresee the course of prices for , other agricultural products, ,and the effect they will have upon the farmer's economy. Yet some policy based upon a definite principle clearly ?ught to bo devised to replace'the present hand-to-mouth arrangement of fixing minimum prices each season."