HISTORY OF WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 129 



land, and is no doubt a factor of some importance in the 

 determination of recent tendencies in the agricultural 

 and pastoral industries of the Dominion. 



9. Competition of Other Countries. 



Considerable influence has been exerted on the normal 

 growth of wheat production in New Zealand by the 

 extension of wheat production on an almost unprece- 

 dented scale in other countries competing in the English 

 market. During the "eighties" it was thought that New 

 Zealand would have a permanent considerable export of 

 wheat to England, but the hope has proved a vain one, 

 and in some measure it is due to the action of other 

 producing areas in pouring large supplies into the Home 

 market. 



Thus from the following table it will be seen that 

 there have been great increases in exports from various 

 competing countries during the 30 years ending 1910, 

 while the export from New Zealand has decreased. 



TABLE XX. 



AVERAGE ANNUAL NET EXPORTS OF EXPORTING 

 COUNTRIES FOR THE LAST THREE DECADES. 



From the above table it is at once obvious that the 

 great increases in exports from Canada, Argentine, and 

 Australia, contemporaneously with decreases in New 

 Zealand, have affected the progress of wheat production 

 here very considerably. The steady downward trend in 

 English prices since the late " seventies" has been due 

 to this great increase in supply, and it is in this reduced 



