262 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 



because Australia would be able to export to us yearly 

 large quantities at lowered prices. Moreover, the millers 

 prefer Australian wheat on account of its superior 

 quality, and they would therefore welcome the change. 

 This view of the matter is unquestionably more reason- 

 able, but it is not convincing. 



If we ignore the effect of the import duty, New 

 Zealand prices, as well as Australian, are determined 

 by conditions in the world's markets. It is not local 

 conditions which primarily determine these prices, 

 though no doubt they exert a certain influence, already 

 described in Chapter VI.* Now, Australia finds a 

 ready market in London for her wheat, and a regular 

 shipping service exists between the market and the seat 

 of production. New Zealand would be prepared to take 

 only comparatively small supplies; for with her high 

 yield per acre, a small area would produce almost 

 sufficient quantities for home consumption. Thus. 

 150,000 acres of superior land could easily be found 

 yearly, and with careful husbandry this would yield, 

 say, 6,000,000 bushels, that is, 40 bushels per acre not 

 an impossibility when we consider that Lincoln Agri- 

 cultural College Farm has had an average yield of 47 -2 

 bushels per acre during the past nine years, t Moreover, 

 since cereal growing is an assistance to successful 

 pastoral farming, this area would probably be forth- 

 coming. 



*See page 97. 



tThis is not the only farm where high yields are obtained. 

 The writer is informed that improved methods of farming would 

 result in an increase in yield per acre which might bring it 

 as high as 40 bushels. In 1903 the yield was 38-37 bushels, and 

 the average for the years 1905-14 was over 30 bushels. No 

 country has better opportunities for obtaining such a high yield, 

 and the further development of intensive farming in Canter- 

 bury is likely to work in this direction. It is hardly necessary 

 to point out that the writer does not declare that New Zealand 

 will produce wheat at the rate of 40 bushels per acre. He 

 merely states it as a possibility for which there is good evidence. 



