276 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 
price limit fixed by the Government from 4s. 9d. to 
5s. 3d. in October, and subsequently to 5s. 9d. in January, 
showed the futility of the Government’s action. The 
experiment thus ended in failure, the reasons for which 
are apparent. 
In the first place, the indecision of the Govern- 
ment when the gravity of the situation was realised in 
the middle of August is not excusable. In referring the 
matter to a Commission Parliament was probably right ; 
for a ‘‘reasonable’’ price must be arrived at before 
control commences. But why wait a whole month 
for the Commission to report? The practical knowledge 
of our politicians could easily have been brought to bear 
on the question, and a reasonable temporary measure 
brought in. When the Commission did report the price 
had reached 5s. per bushel and over. Consequently our 
farmers did not like ‘‘backing’’ down. By much 
agitation, however, they, along with the millers, got 
a new scale of prices fixed, and the price of wheat was 
to be a2 maximum at 5s. 3d. per bushel.* This shows 
clearly that the Government had sacrificed its primary 
object—keeping price low—to the wishes of an influential 
section of the community. Later, when in January the 
price was fixed at 5s. 9d. per bushel, the vacillation was 
again apparent; for in order to dispose of supplies of 
Canadian wheat without too serious a loss to the tax- 
payers, the Government again raised the price. Finally, 
just at a period when the new season’s supplies were 
about to come in, all attempts at control were abandoned, 
and the market opened for the harvest at an exorbitant 
price of 7s. per bushel. Indeed, it may be said that the 
action of our Legislature was worse than futile, for the 
*A critic has suggested that this price was lower than that 
at which the Government could purchase wheat from abroad. 
This did not enter into the question at the moment. <A low price 
was aimed at. 
