The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, DECEMBER 9, 1902.

Gisborne Times, Volume VIII, Issue 690, 9 December 1902, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, DECEMBER 9, 1902.

MILLKKM' TRUST, la connection with liio meeting last night, a report sent by telegraph of the interview a deputation had with Sir Joseph Ward at Christchurch is of exceptional interest. Thu two most noteworthy speeches were those of Air 'I 1 . Id. Taylor and Sir Joseph Wald. The former said a feeling of indignation had been aroused in the community at tlici largelyincreased cosL of Ilnur, through till.* operations of the New Zealand K lour Ulillers’ Assocint ion. The general feeling was that the increase was not warranted when the price of wheat was taken into consideration, and it was generally conceded to be I tie factor which should govern I lie value of Hour. It. was considered that, the protils now being made by. the millets belonging to the Trust were exorbitant, although it. was dillicult, under the circumstances, to say exactly what they were. They were quite satislied, however, that the profits were sulhciently large to warrant, them m asking the (iovermnent .to make a searching enquiry into the matter in tnc interests of Liie whole community. At the present time the Trust was restricting the output of the various mills belonging to the combination, many of the mills being only allowed to work up ,io about a third ot their capacity, and, of course, this meant increasing the cost of producing flour. Working hand-in-hand with liie trust was the Master Bakers’ Association, which compelled millers belonging to the comb tie not to supply Hour to ai.v baker outside the pale of the Association Although some members of that bodv recognised that the prices asked for bread were exorbitant, and were prepared to sell at a htir prolii below the tariff rates fixed they were not allowed to do so. The truth was that, millers ami bakers had combined together.' It was true Hi,if wheal had gone tip tifly per cent, in price, while (Pair bad dune the same, but lie would like to point out that Ibis was distinctly unfair, as iiie cos I of production of Hour bad not. appreciatively m-

(.Tensed, and llictelore the ntillo'swcie making an extra profit to which they were not entitled, it was a very serious thing, especially for the working members of the community, to have to pay such high prices for their bread. lie thought that tho people would be quite satisfied to have tho market price of bread fixed by some such body as the Arbitration Court. Another very serious phase of the question was that the Trust was interfering with the capabilities of tho output oi the milling machinery of tho various mills, and this brought about an artificial cost of the flour, as, when the machinery was not worked to its fullest capacity, it made the production very much more eostiy, Any bakers outside the combination had been virtually boycotted, and Mr Williams and others who did not belong to the Trust had had to got their supplies of flour from America or from Auckland, or from wherever else they could, and this, of course, added to the cost of the bread which they turned out. _ This __ was decidedly unfair competition. Under existing circumstances they felt that tho time had come when the Government should stop in and insist on knowing all' particulars as to the working of tho Trust, as its operations were detrimental to the great body of tho people. He was quite satisfied that the millers at the present time were making quite iff! per ton profit on all the flour they were selling, and this was too much. Most of the wheat which had been turned into flour had been purchased at under -Is per bushel, but millers were charging for the flour as if they had bought it at the present market rate, which was about -is 7d per bushel. He hoped that Sir Juseph Ward would go into the whole matter und evolve some scheme by which the present scandalous condition of things might be checked.

After the other members, tiie Tresident of the Trades and Labor Council, and certain persons of less public importance, hod spoken, Mr T. Taylor said he had omitted to point out another feature of question. The bakers were not allowed to discriminate in the matter of what brand of flour they used. They were compelled to take any brand, and thus very often they were compelled to use inferior qualities which to a great extent damaged their trade. If the Government could manage to get behind the Trust, it might start mills on its own account. He felt that it would bo quite justified in doing so to supply at a reasonable cost such a prime necessity of life as bread. He further added that the Millers’ Trust was selling its flour in AucLieud at £2 per ton less than it was doing in Christchurch, in order to endeavor to force the Auckland Holler Mills to join the combination.

Sir Joseph 'Ware! said the question was n most important one, and such a state of things as had been shown could not be allowed to continue. The question as to what was to bo done was a rather difficult one. There were difficulties in the way of the State establishing Hour mills. It was g morally the case that when the State started in any particular line to purchase they virtually put up the prices against themselves. This had been particularly noticeable in the purchase of land, and it would probably be equally so with the wheat market. If they established State mills it would be necessary also for them to contro die price of wheat, and he could scarcely sec at the moment how that was to be done. He thought perhaps it might be better for the State to assist in the establishment of co-operative flour mills. Ho was quite satisfied that something would have to be done to prevent the Trust unfairly extracting high prices from the people for such a main staple as bread*. "He was as much opposed to Trusts as anyone. The action of the I millers in restricting the output and preventing the bak; rs purchasing at failprices was distinctly wroi g- He quite agreed with the deputation tk.it it was the duty of the country to break down such Trusts, which were feeing up the prices ! of food. The millers ibetnseivc-s ..rust see 1 that such a state of things could not be I allowed to continue, If the State started I

t wo it won: i Kmc again.-*. the :!■ ' i • i i y ■■■■ w ; p -• mi.v put Hi'- | iice up s.g xir.it it. Tuc I 5e...: •' ■.a .. mo.-i p ; in -me w ,y. a tie: b kc is »« w:s: ei> :-ueh to st- d m take on:. He could only say a: presou: | that ho would iv the whole m tt’.er before j tie, Cabinet, p.nd it woo’d have the earnest | consideration of the Government, with a j view to evolving some remedy for the evil j he mentioned. lie had introduced two I bills last session for the regulation of trusts, and in the matter of the price of j foodstuffs he had proposed that they j should be regulated bv some such body as ] a Court of Arbitration, and it was his intention to persevere in this direction. In this young country they must prevent the springing up of Trusts at all hazards.