270 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 
question during the year, and had worked out carefully 
the cost of production of wheat, flour, and bread, and 
other products of the wheat industry. After negotiating 
with the producing and commercial interests for some 
time the Board recommended the fixation of maximum 
prices for wheat and flour, bread, and other products of 
the wheat industry, and the guarantee to wheat-growers 
of a fixed price for the next season’s crop. The order 
was Gazetted by the Government on February 6th, 1917, 
by which the maximum prices of wheat and flour were 
fixed, varying from 5s. 8d. in February to 5s. 11d. in 
July, 1917, or after. Wheat-growers were also to be 
guaranteed 5s. 10d. per bushel for the next season’s 
crop. 
By the end of 1917 the policy of the Government had 
again altered. Instead of merely fixing prices it was 
decided to effect a more rigid control over the wheat 
industry. By an Order in Council of December 22nd, 
1917, private dealings in wheat were forbidden; a wheat 
controller was appointed, and the whole business of 
purchasing the wheat crop and re-distributing the wheat 
to millers was handed over to the Board of Trade.* The 
prices at which purchases were to be made varied from 
5s. 10d. in January to 6s. 1d. in or after September, 
1918. A critical account of these various measures is 
given below. We now proceed to discuss the causes of 
the high prices during the War. 
(c) Causes of the Recent High Prices——The following 
account is reproduced from an article the writer con- 
tributed to the Christchurch Press on October 21st, 1917, 
and it is also the substance of the evidence he gave 
before the Board of Trade earlier in the year. 
“In July, 1914, wheat was selling at about 3s. 9d. per 
*In the original M.S. of this work written in November, 
1915, as a University thesis, the writer suggested a scheme of 
Government control of this kind. 
