258 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 



Protection as a general policy was condemned, and it 

 was considered desirable that the duties, as far as 

 possible, should be abolished.* 



The whole question is closely connected with the degree 

 to which we realise the importance of the rural industries 

 in our national life. Many who advocate protection 

 evidently think that the manufacturing industries 

 form the greatest element in our economic system. 

 The economic history of New Zealand since the early 

 days has been the history of her primary industries. The 

 varying periods of depression and prosperity which the 

 country as a whole has passed through have been syn- 

 chronous with fluctuations in value of the products of 

 these industries, and at present it is patent that our 

 unbounded prosperity is a result of the rapidly rising 

 values of farm produce. Moreover, an examination of 

 our exports reveals the interesting fact that the products 

 of the great primary industries are responsible for 

 almost 90 per cent, of the totals, the chief other items 

 being gold, coal, kauri gum, flax, and timber, themselves 

 direct products of the soil. Furthermore, the value 

 of these exports has almost doubled during the past 

 decade, and between 1905 and 1910 it rose by nearly 

 50 per cent. At the same time it must be remembered 

 that the produce consumed locally increased greatly 

 during the same period; for there was both an increase 

 in population and a rise in the standard of living. 



We proceed to examine our manufacturing industries 

 during the same period 1905 to 1910, years for which 

 we have statistics based upon census returns. In 1905 

 the total value of raw materials used in factories was 

 12,681,358, and the value of the output was 22,422,726. 



*See Report of the Commission on the Cost of Living in 

 New Zealand, 1912. Parliamentary Papers, H-18. Pages Ixxvii- 

 Ixxxi, xcii-xciii. 



One Commissioner dissented from this view. 



