174 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 



coincidence that prices should have fallen in these years. 



The explanation of the general falling tendency is to 

 be found in the decreased production of gold together 

 with the rapid expansion of the Colony, with consequent 

 increased production of staple products. As explained 

 in the previous chapter, progress in wheat growing in 

 New Zealand was never so great as it was in the late 

 "seventies" and early "eighties." With falling prices 

 in the great world markets and over-production at home, 

 the inevitable reaction occurred in the decade 1883-94, 

 prices falling very low. Unfortunately for New Zealand, 

 wheat, at this time, was one of her staple exports, and 

 the great fall in its value brought severe depression 

 upon the colonists. 



(c) The Period from 1895 Prices Rising. In the 

 early "nineties" the tide turned in favour of the cereals, 

 and from that time a marked upward tendency is 

 recorded in price movements. Although the general 

 trend is upwards, the outstanding feature of the curve 

 is again violent fluctuations. Very high prices were 

 recorded in 1897-8, 1903, and 1908, while the period 

 1899-1901 was one of very low prices, and falls of minor 

 importance occurred in 1904-6 and 1910. The explan- 

 ation of these fluctuations is again to be found to a large 

 extent in local conditions of yield. Thus the years of 

 1897-8, 1902, and 1907-8, were years of low yields, and 

 these corresponded with the years in which high prices 

 were recorded. Then again, prolific yields were recorded 

 in 1899-1900, 1905, and 1909-10, where there is corres- 

 pondence with low prices. In 1908 prices rose very high, 

 reaching an average for the year of 4s. 7d., the highest 

 figure for almost 30 years. This relatively high price 

 can be accounted for in turning to the production not 

 only in New Zealand but also in Australia. For the 

 years 1907-8 production in the Dominion had been 



