CORN-DUTIES AND THE PRICE OF WHEAT.
[TO THE EDITOR OP THE " SP ECTITOR.1
SIR,—The letter of " A. L." in the Spectator of June 20th is very interesting. It states some facts, but it does not tell the whole truth. It is true that the price of French wheat in France is at present equal to the price of English wheat in England plus the import-duty of 12s. 2d. per quarter in France. But " A. L." does not state the well-known fact that this is exceptional, nor does he advert to the equally well-known explanation that owing to the badly secured harvest in France last autumn good wheat is exceedingly scarce in France, and that the price has therefore gone up to an importing level. Nor does "A. L." refer to the relative prices in France and England for the past few years, prices which, to the surprise of many observers, have proved that the French farmer did not get the full benefit of the 12s. 2d. duty; and that, there- fore, the French consumer does not pay the 12s. 2d. on native wheat, but a very much smaller sum. Even on January 1st of this bad year comparative prices stood :-
Line. London. Native Wheat. Native Wheat.
35s. per 480 lb. ... 26s. 6d. per 480 lb. Difference, 8s. 6d. per quarter.
If we go back to January 1st, 1901, we find :-
Lille, 33s. ; London, 29s.; Difference, 5s. per quarter. And to January 1st, 1900, we have :- Lille, 32s. 6d.; London, 27s. 6d.; Difference, 5s. per quarter. In some previous years French wheat sold practically as low as English. and the French farmer was thus at that time getting no benefit from the duty. This remarkable fact has attracted the attention of the corn trade for years, and disposes con- clusively of the statement, so much drummed into our ears,
that the consumer pays the home farmer a sum equal to the duty on imports. Confirmation of all this will be found in Beerbohm's Evening List, a leading organ of the corn trade P.S.—The same explanation applies to present prices of native grain in Germany,—the result of a defective harvest and scarcity of good native wheat, which account largely for the present huge importations of foreign wheat into Germany.
[Our correspondent must surely be mistaken in his figures. . Mr. Boner Law in answer to Colonel Denny stated as follows : "The French import-duty on wheat is at the rate of seven francs per 100 kilogrammes, equal to 12s. 2id. per quarter. The average of the prices of wheat at the eleven French markets for which particulars are given in the Journal Officiel for June 29th was 40s. 8id. per quarter. The Gazette average price of British wheat in England and Wales for the week ended June 20th was 27s. 6d. per quarter."
We thus get, as the Westminster Gazette points out :—
Price per Quarter. Import Duty. Price less Duty.
France 40s. 8i d. 12s. 2 i d. 28s. 6d.
England 27s. 6d. ... ••• -
In other words, and accepting our correspondent's view of a bad harvest, in times of scarcity the consumers pay, in addition to the 12s. 21d. imposed by the duty, an extra enhancement of price equal to ls. per quarter.—ED. Spectator.]
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