H—44

The wheat turnover of 9,733,505 bushels tvas 2,360,082 bushels more than in the previous year, but 1,026,607 bushels less than the quantity of 10,760,112 bushels sold during the year ended 31st January, 1946. Of the 9,733,505 bushels sold in 1947-48, 5,266,604 bushels represented Australian importations and 4,466,901 bushels New-Zealand-grown. Importations were 2,518,049 bushels more than in the previous year, but included a quantity of wheat (1,547,882 bushels) which but for shipping difficulties would have been landed in the Dominion during the previous year. The South Island crop went to the mills and the poultry industry in the South Island, whereas most of the imported wheat (3,535,276 bushels) was landed in the North Island, and only 1,731,328 bushels in the South Island. The trade in New Zealand white flour was 165 tons more than in the previous year. A small quantity of Australian flour was sold, this representing the balance of a quantity accepted in lieu of wheat at the end of 1946, at a time when inland transport difficulties in Australia retarded the movement of wheat to the port of shipment, while flour was readily available. Wheatmeal sales (8,913 tons) showed a decline of 982 tons on the previous year's figure. This decline in trade in wheatmeal has been a feature during recent years, and the availability of flour of 80-per-cent. extraction is believed to be the chief cause of this. The trade in New Zealand white flour and wheatmeal represented 118-31 per. cent, of the basic allocation made to mills when the present system was inaugurated in 1936. Including Australian flour sold as such, trade represented 119-84 per cent, of the basic allocation, and this compares with the 120-34 per cent, of the allocation sold in the previous year. The cash turnover during the past year was : £ Wheat .. .. .. .. 4,096,215 Flour ~ .. ... .. 2,671,652 £6,767,867 This figure of £6,767,867 exceeds that of the previous year by £595,330. The wheat figure is based on landed costs of Australian wheat and the growers' price of New Zealand wheat. (h) Administration Costs The over-all administration costs of the Wheat Committee totalled £46,584 (0-688 per cent, of turnover of £6,767,867), apportioned as under: — {a) Wheat administration costs, covering the purchase and sale of all New Zealand and imported wheat, £ll,Oll, or 0-269 per cent, of wheat turnover of £4,096,215. (b) Flour administration costs, covering all the charges arising from collecting orders, ordering out from the mills, invoicing, collecting accounts, paying proceeds to mills, acceptance on our part of the del credere risk, and including a commission of 2 per cent, paid to merchant agents handling flour in localities where there are no Wheat Committee branch offices, £35,573, or 1-332 per cent, of our flour turnover of £2,671,652. Since millers pay the Wheat Committee 1J per cent, commission for this work it will be observed that the commission was slightly below the amount necessary to cover the flour administration costs in full. Bad debts written off during the year amounted to £59 ; this amount, when compared with flour turnover, is infinitesimal.

37