SECRETARY'S REPORT. 19 7 



market price of agricultural produce is really a thing of no mean 

 magnitude. 



Agricultural statistics are but a computation of the bread and 

 butter, meat, -wool, &c., which our fields and animals yield — their 

 cost, their price, demand, supply, and -whatever else concerns them. 



The merchant often takes an account of stock; the prudent 

 house-holder, before setting of winter, examines his bins and barrels 

 and woodpile ; the farmer looks sharp to see if he can winter all his 

 cattle well; the shipmaster, before weighing anchor on a year's 

 voyage, scrutinizes closely the quantity and condition of his stores, 

 and what other than such like would the State do in collecting agri- 

 cultural statistics ? • 



It may be said, and with truth, that it is no easy matter to obtain 

 full and accurate statistics on any points, but if we may not obtain 

 complete accuracy we may gradually improve, and approximations 

 to truth are of great value compared with mere guess-work. It is 

 also doubtless true that some minds associate the idea of taxation as 

 closely or necessarily connected with such inquiries, and if they 

 be first made by assessors, many might naturally fall into this error, 

 and so be led to understate facts — to avoid which, might it not be 

 begun at least by district school teachers, whose daily occupation it 

 is to impart knowledge, and a few whose leisure winter evenings 

 might thus serve to gather some for the benefit of a larger school. 

 The full benefits to be obtained by means of statistics are developed 

 very gradually. It is not by one, nor by a few, but by long con- 

 tinued periodical observations alone that data are to be had from 

 which may be deduced all the conclusions which they are capable 

 of yielding. 



As a first step, we should endeavor to comprehend their value and 

 use. If such be even yet the case, in some degree, abroad, much 

 more is it needful here. A late English writer* says : ''To arrive 

 at a correct appreciation of the subject, we must first be convinced 

 of its importance and of its expediency, then distinctly apprehend 

 what is required, and lastly by what means it may be attained. On 



*L. Levi, in a paper read before the London Society of Arts, urging the neces- 

 sity of obtaining full statistics at harvest time, and to be completed immediatelys 

 lor j)resent as well as future use. 



