RELATED TOPICS 271 



bushel Six months later this price had almost doubled. 

 "What were the circumstances which caused such a rise? 

 Here, again, it must be remembered that the prices 

 determined in the great central markets for wheat are 

 reflected in the prices at which wheat sells in the 

 small producing areas. According to the International 

 Institute of Agriculture at Rome, between July, 1914, 

 and February, 1915, wheat prices rose in several 

 countries as follows : 



Great Britain . . . . 86 per cent. 



Italy . . . . . . 57 per cent. 



Canada . . . . 70 per cent. 



United States of America . . 93 per cent. 



We thus see that the rise in prices was general. Before 

 enquiring into the position in New Zealand, let us con- 

 sider briefly the causes of the rise in price in the world's 

 market. Several factors combined to cause an increase 

 in prices over pre-war prices. 



In the first place, there is the increased cost of freight, 

 war risk, and exchange. The influence of these factors 

 is shown by the following statistics giving cost of sea- 

 carriage per ton: 



February, February, 

 1913. 1915. 



From New York to Liverpool . . 15s. 34s. 5d. 



From Bombay to Liverpool .. 19s. 50s. 



From Melbourne to Liverpool . . 30s. 85s. 



(lOd. bush.) (2s. 3d. bush.) 



Secondly, there was the obstruction of supplies caused 

 by the locking up of stores in some producing countries, 

 notably Russia, where, owing to the closing of the 

 Dardanelles, there will soon be two years' supply await- 

 ing shipment, amounting to some 300,000,000 bushels 

 now, and further increased after the present harvest. 

 We notice the effect of this on the wheat market in 

 February, 1915, when the British Fleet attacked the 



