280 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 



were so great as to cause our already timid legislature 

 to abandon any definite policy, and the threats fell on 

 deaf ears. A more rational procedure would have been 

 the public purchase of all wheat supplies at a fixed 

 maximum price. The State having thus commandeered 

 the whole supply, it could have been parcelled out to 

 the millers at a fixed price also, and probably high 

 enough to pay the State for its action. As it was, the 

 whole supply was raised to the consumer, and the 

 Government lost very considerably, with the result 

 that not only the failure of the enterprise, but the 

 additional burden on the tax-payers, caused by the loss 

 on the Government wheat, called forth severe criticism 

 from all parts of the country. Difficulties, no one will 

 deny, beset the path of the policy of purchasing the 

 whole supply, but if drastic action were necessary, 

 these difficulties were easier to overcome than the corres- 

 ponding obstacles in the way of price control. It is not 

 unlikely that the co-operation of the grain merchants 

 could have been obtained, had the Government shown 

 itself firm from the outset." 



This is precisely what the Government has now done. 

 After December, 1917, all wheat for milling is to be 

 purchased by Government brokers under the charge of 

 the Wheat controller, who is the Chairman of the Board 

 of Trade. The Wheat Controller will then allocate to 

 each flour-mill its due quota of wheat. Thus not only 

 is the price fixed, but private dealing which hitherto 

 has been a considerable obstacle to a successful policy 

 of price control is abolished. If some form of control 

 is necessary, this is probably the best form. If the 

 Government is successful in administering the scheme 

 satisfactorily any opposition will be beaten down. There 

 is reason to believe that the scheme is now viewed with 

 favour among the various "interests" concerned, and 

 when the general public realise that the price fixed is 



