\ 



Agricultural Statisfics. 115 



fat cattle was due entirely to higher prices in the hist few 

 months (for instance, best quality Shorthorns averaged 10s. 2d. 

 per stone in December, 1914, as against 9s. 'dd. in the same 

 month of 1913), the prices up to July having been at a lower 

 level than in the corresponding period of the previous year. 

 On the other hand, pig prices in the last few months were 

 consistently below those ruling at the end of 1913.' 



Imports. 



Supplies of foreign and colonial agricultural produce in 

 1914 (see Table IX.), although well maintained on the whole, 

 showed considerable decreases in the case of barley, oats, maize, 

 peas, and eggs. As to how far the effects of the war on trade 

 conditions in the last five months contributed towards these 

 decreases and influenced overseas supplies in general, is a 

 subject too big for the limited scope of this article, but a few 

 points adduced from an examination of the monthly Trade 

 Accounts may, perhaps, be of interest. For instance, of the 

 drop of 5,100,000 cwts. in the imports of Barley, as compared 

 with the average supplies of 1912 and 1913, no less than 4,300,000 

 cwt. were owing to reduced shipments in the period August to 

 December, when only 9,200,000 cwt. were received, as against 

 an average of 13,500,000 cwt. in the corresponding periods of 

 the two preceding years. As a result, the imports of barley in 

 1914, as a whole, were less than in any year since 1892. The 

 decrease in Oats also occurred mainly in the war period, supplies 

 after July 31 being only just over 4,000,000 cwt., as against even 

 the exceptionally low quantity of 5,500,000 cwt. in the same 

 period of 1913. (In both 1911 and 1912 supplies in this period 

 were over 8,000,000 cwt., but in 1913 an unusually large 

 proportion of the shipments was received earlier in the year.) 

 On the other hand. Maize supplies in August-December were 

 well up to average, and the heavy drop in the total (both as 

 compared with 1912 and the heavy supplies of 1913) took 

 place almost entii-ely before the commencement of war. xA.s 

 all our supplies of this feeding stuff are obtained from 

 abroad, it is satisfactory to note that in the last two of the 

 five months of war conditions in 1914, the imports of maize 

 totalled 10,675,000 cwt., as against an average of 8,300,000 

 cwt. in the combined months of November and December 

 in 1912 and 1913. 



Turning to commodities intended for direct human con- 

 sumption, it may be pointed out that although the Wheat 



' For full information as to fluctuations in these and other agricultural 

 prices, the reader should refer to the Weekly Market Prices Return of the 

 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and to Part III. (Prices Section) of the 

 annual Agricultural Statistics. 



