Duty to consumers

A POLICY of increasing the duty on wheat at a time when growers of New Zealand are not producing wheat in quantities sufficient to meet the requirements of the country would in fact, as a correspondent observes in a letter in this issue, be in direct conflict with the public interest. It would have the effect of maintaining the price of bread by artificial means at a price which was not justified by economic conditions. And, as we have repeatedly contended, any interference with the operation of economic forces is unwise and impolitic.