1921.] Home-Grown Wheat Prices. 1095 







really met the position very fully indeed, and that he is pre- 

 pared to go a long way beyond the literal interpretation of his 

 original pledge. He has given you the benefit of the doubt in 

 all cases, and I do hope that this will restore confidence. As 

 you know we are very anxious to maintain as large an area under 

 arable cultivation (wheat) as we can, and I hope you will do 

 all you can to support us in our general policy. 



Mr. Langford : I understood you to say that the miller would 

 be instructed to make up the price to 95s. for good sound 

 milling wheat, and pro rata for inferior wheat. Is it to be 

 presumed that the miller only bought wheat of sound milling 

 quality? 



Sir Arthur Boscawen : Oh, no. It must be wheat of milling 

 quality, but there are, of course, various grades. 



Mr. Langford : I think it would be a very dangerous loop- 

 hole. May I ask who is to decide whether the wheat was of 

 * sound milling quality or not? 



Sir Arthur Boscawen: The miller. 



The question was raised by a member of the conference as 

 to whether a farmer delivering direct to the mill would be 

 entitled to a Is. extra, i.e., 96s., and this point was confirmed 

 by Sir Arthur Boscawen. 



Mr. Bobbins, in reply to Sir Arthur Boscawen, said : We 

 quite realise, Sir Arthur, that you have met us in a very 

 generous and liberal spirit, and we do not want to appear 

 grasping or dissatisfied, but one point occurs to me, and that 

 is whether it would be possible to take any steps to increase 

 the demand for home-grown wheat. So many of our people 

 cannot find a sale. I wonder if you could do anything at all 

 to relieve the situation? 



After a short discussion on this point, it was pointed out to 

 Mr. Bobbins that the chief difficulty was the general fall in 

 prices, but that everything possible would be done to assist 

 the farmers in this connection, although it was difficult to see 

 how anything very material could be done. Every inducement 

 had been offered to the miller to purchase English wheat, but 

 the supply was at the moment greatly in excess of the demand. 



In reply to a question from a member of the National 

 Farmers' Union, Sir Arthur Boscawen stated that the maxi- 

 mum price for February and March was known to be 95s., 



