30 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 



CHAPTER III. 



GENERAL CONDITIONS IN NEW ZEALAND. 



Throughout the preceding chapters of this work great 

 prominence has been given to the fact that various parts 

 of New Zealand are specially adapted for the production 

 of wheat. We shall here consider these qualifications 

 in comparison with those of other producing countries. 



1. Suitability for Wheat Production. 



i ' The Dominion of New Zealand is a country specially 

 favoured for primary production. The soil covering 

 is varied in character, a considerable portion of it being 

 of exceptional fertility, and even the poorer soils are 

 often capable of profitable utilization by reason of the 

 comparatively mild and equable weather conditions."* 



(a) The North Island. This Island is remarkable 

 for the congenial environment it furnishes for many 

 phases of production. The fertile province of Hawke's 

 Bay provides, perhaps, the best sheep grazing country 

 in the world, while many parts of the West Coast 

 furnish ideal pastures for dairy cattle. Although the 

 Island possesses many natural qualifications for wheat 

 production, as we shall see when considering soil and 

 climatic conditions, attention has been diverted into the 

 more profitable pursuits of dairying and sheep farming, 

 furnishing a remarkable example of the tendency, 

 established by the theory of International Trade, of 

 countries to specialise in that for which they are most 

 advantageously adapted. 



(b) South Island. The South Island was the portion 

 of New Zealand where agriculture was first established 

 to any considerable extent, settlement here being greatly 

 facilitated by the presence of large fertile plains, and 

 rolling downs and hills devoid of forests and other 



*New Zealand Official Year Book (1914) p. 569. 



