188 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 



of the "West Coast serve as a barrier to the moisture-laden 

 anti-trade winds which blow across the Tasman Sea. 

 Consequently, they bring heavy rains to the West Coast, 

 and come over the ranges as hot dry winds. Not only 

 is the rainfall of the East Coast, some 25 to 30 

 inches, very favourable to wheat production, but 

 the general character of the land in this area is 

 suitable for agriculture. A great portion consists of the 

 Canterbury Plains, the soil of which is loose and easily 

 cultivated, while the Downs to the South present few 

 obstacles. It is true that in Nelson and Marlborough 

 there are small areas where wheat is produced, for 

 example, the Waimea and Wairau Plains. But a glance 

 at statistics shows that the production of these areas is 

 small. I have already demonstrated graphically that the 

 amount of wheat produced outside Canterbury and 

 Otago is small.* Since the rainfall in the West Coast 

 prohibits wheat growing, there remains only Canterbury 

 and North Otago to be considered in estimating the land 

 available for wheat production. In the extreme south 

 of Otago the climate is not highly favourable to the 

 production of the cereal, and although the Southland 

 Plains are otherwise suitable, wheat is not produced in 

 large quantities there. Of recent years separate statistics 

 have been published for Southland, and these indicate 

 that the production is comparatively small. For the 

 harvest in 1916 the area in wheat in Southland was 

 8,795 acres, and in North Otago 48,462 acres. The 

 corresponding figures for 1911 were 11,715 acres, and 

 62,171 acres. Thus, our present enquiry refers chiefly 

 to Canterbury and North Otago, and in considering the 

 supply of land available for wheat production reference 

 will be made to these two areas only. 



(&) Supply of Land. The total area of Canterbury 

 and Otago (not including Southland) is almost 19,600,000 



*See page 32. 



