4 JUNE 1948, Page 18

BULK BUYING

Sint,—Mr. P. J. Wood's idea of what constitutes " proof " of the alleged folly of the system of bulk-buying is peculiar. The U.S. Military Authorities who bought maize in the Argentine may have been better bargainers than the British buyers, but they were equally bulk-buyers. Further, Mr. Wood asserts that the U.S. Authorities paid £25 10s. per ton. They did not. They paid the equivalent of £25 10s. per ton in dollars, a very different matter. The Argentine badly needs dollars but not sterling, so that it was no great feat for buyers able to pay dollars to get a better price in terms of sterling than buyers paying sterling.—