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(c) General The staff of the Department wholly employed on rationing work has been reduced "to three officers and, as has been the case since the introduction of butter rationing, most of the work continues to be undertaken through the P.ost Office under the direction ■of the Rationing Controller. 3. WHEAT, FLOUR, AND BREAD INDUSTRIES REPORT OF GENERAL MANAGER, WHEAT COMMITTEE, FOR YEAR ENDED 31st JANUARY, 1950 General Review World supplies of wheat continued to improve during the year under review, and this brought about some relaxation in the controls that had been adopted by various countries in the latter years of the war and afterwards when wheat and other cereals were in short supply. With the improved conditions, cereals including wheat were, as from 18th April, 1949, removed from the list of items subject to allocation by the International Emergency Food Council, Washington, which for a number of years previously had rigorously allocated supplies amongst the various importing countries. In New Zealand the first relaxation came on Ist March, 1949, when the extraction rate of flour was reduced from 80 per cent, to 78 per cent, in keeping with the better supply conditions then prevailing. The improvement in supplies also enabled adequate quantities of wheat to be made available for the full requirements of the poultry industry. On 31st December, 1949, the revocation of the Wheat and Flour Emergency Regulations 1939 became effective. While wheat was easier, no noticeable improvement in supplies of bran and pollard took place. Bran and pollard are by-products resulting from the manufacture of flour, and the supply of these offals is dependent upon the quantity of flour produced in New Zealand for its own requirements, this varying only slightly from year to year. Furthermore, no bran or pollard could be obtained from overseas. In these circumstances, and in order to enable the poultry industry to receive the maximum benefit from the limited supplies of bran and pollard that are available, it was decided at the request of the New Zealand Poultry Board, following the revocation of the Emergency Regulations, to continue to divert these offals to the manufacture of poultry mash. This matter was further considered by the annual conference of the poultry industry in March, 1950, as the result of which the industry expressed itself as being in favour of this practice being continued, and bran and pollard supplies are being dealt with accordingly. During the year ended 31st January, 1950, importations of Australian wheat, although heavy (5,796,062 bushels) were smaller than in the previous year (6,636,973 bushels). The quantity harvested in New Zealand in 1949 was, however, 5,958,026 bushels from 146,707 acres as compared with 4,539,017 bushels from 123,751 acres in 1948. The average yield per acre for the 1949 harvest was 40*61 bushels which was a record for New Zealand. Taking the above into account, the actual physical supply of wheat to meet New Zealand needs and to provide a more adequate carry-over increased from 11,175,980 bushels in 1948-49 to 11,754,088 bushels in 1949-50. During the year Australia delivered the balance of 2,851,640 bushels at 6s. 9d. (Australian) per bushel, f.0.b., sacks extra, to complete the 18,000,000 bushels arranged under contract between the Australian and New Zealand Governments and extending over the Australian crop-years 1945-46 to 1949-50. Owing to New Zealand having drawn upon this contract more heavily than expected when the contract was first entered into, it was completed earlier than anticipated. Upon the fulfilment of this the Wheat Committee entered into a further contract with the Australian Wheat Board, for 2,500,000 bushels at 15s. (Australian) per bushel, f.0.b., sacks extra. As a

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