204 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 



IV., been pursued in detail, because I am forced to believe 

 that in its scarcity and comparative inefficiency lies 

 a very serious obstacle, though by no means the only 

 one, preventing further progress in the wheat industry, 

 and diverting much land from purely agricultural 

 pursuits to pastoral and dairy farming. If any dis- 

 proportionate digression has been made, it is to be hoped 

 that this in itself will result in attracting greater atten- 

 tion to the gravity of the situation caused by the present 

 state of our farm labour supply, and in assigning to the 

 problem an importance adequate to the grave economic 

 consequences which will follow, unless it is seriously 

 studied. Indeed, it is surprising that many farmers 

 should so easily have given up the problem in disgust 

 as insoluble at present. Of course, while one hears it 

 commonly asserted among farmers that the labour 

 problem is the fundamental cause of the present trans- 

 ition from wheat growing to pastoral pursuits, this 

 opinion must be accepted very cautiously. The real 

 position is probably that lack of labour has accelerated 

 the tendency towards sheep farming, and even pushed the 

 movement further than it would otherwise have gone. 

 The relative degree of profit, over and above cost of pro- 

 duction, obtainable from agricultural and pastoral 

 farming, is the real cause of the transition; but this 

 transition is not likely to be completed in the wheat 

 producing area on account of the operation of a third 

 cause the relatively high rate of profit arising from 

 mixed farming. For these reasons, the greatest pre- 

 cautions must be observed in analysing the results of the 

 inadequacy of the labour supply, both in numbers and 

 efficiency. The most recent tendency in farming in 

 Canterbury is the rise of mixed farming, and this 

 requires, probably, more labour than is forthcoming at 

 present. 



