1921.] 



Home-Grown Wheat Prices. 



1093 



In accordance with the arrangement made by the Prime 

 Minister, a Conference, attended by representatives of the 

 Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Ministry of Food, the 

 Wheat Commission, the Treasury and the National Farmers' 

 Union, was held on Thursday, the 17th February, 1921. 



A report of the proceedings is given below. 



Sir Arthur Boscawen : Now, gentlemen, those , of you 

 who were present at the deputation at Downing Street 

 yesterday remember that the Prime Minister made it perfectly 

 clear that he intended that the pledge given in the first instance • 

 by himself, and afterwards by me, should be carried out in the 

 spirit and that wherever there was a doubt, that the benefit of 

 the doubt should be given to the farmers, because he did not 

 think that you were persons who were in the habit of construing 

 technical questions and Parliamentary or legal documents, and 

 he wished, therefore, not to stand on any technicalities, but to 

 carry out the promise in the sense in which it was generally 

 understood. Well, that being so, he invited this Ministry to 

 consult with the Wheat Commission and the Ministry of Food 

 as to the best method of carrying out the undertakings he gave 

 yesterday, and we have had two conferences, one yesterday 

 evening and one this morning, and I will just indicate to you 

 the conclusions we have arrived at, and will then ask for your 

 views on them. 



We take this position, that the promise was for a maximum 

 price of 95s. provided that the c.i.f. cost of imported wheat was 

 95s. or above and so long as wheat was controlled. We hold 

 that, technically, decontrol took place on the 25th January, 

 but we are prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt, that 

 is to say, inasmuch as there is still control of flour mills, we 

 hold that, although technically there is decontrol, from the point 

 of view of construing the pledge, there is no decontrol at the 

 present, and we propose, therefore, that the farmer shall be 

 entitled to get, so long as there is not decontrol, what was stated 

 by me in the House of Commons, the average c.i.f. cost of wheat 

 imported during the two previous months. Well now, the effect 

 of that decision will be this — that as regards sales, so long as 

 control still exists, the price will be announced based upon the 

 two previous months' cost, and the millers will be instructed to 

 pay the farmers for wheat of sound milling quality that figure, 

 and for inferior wheat they will pay pro rata. Of course, we are 

 only dealing with milling wheat, not chicken food or anything of 



