THE PRICE OF WHEAT 165 



ties" production in these countries progressed rapidly. 

 With a relatively small density of population, the amount 

 of wheat required for home consumption was not great, 

 and consequently there was a large surplus for export 

 to European countries and principally to England, 

 where acute agricultural depression beginning in the 

 "seventies" was being experienced in the "eighties" and 

 early * ' nineties. ' ' With ever-increasing supplies brought 

 to the English market from these countries, the most 

 natural result was a fall in price. During the period 

 the chief exporter of wheat to England was the United 

 States, the imports of wheat from this country in 1870 

 being 12,371,922 cwt, while in 1880 they had risen to 

 29,634,820 cwt. The exports from the Argentine were 

 also considerable, and those of Canada increasing, though 

 the period of great development there did not commence 

 until the beginning of the present century. New Zealand 

 and Australian exports kad also begun to exert an 

 influence on the English wheat market, New Zealand, 

 indeed, in the "eighties" having reached her maximum. 

 The great increase in the importation of wheat into 

 England is shown by the fact that, whereas in the decade 

 1866-75 the average annual importation of wheat per 

 head of the population was 134 Ibs., during the decade 

 1876-85 it was 180 Ibs., and in the following decade it 

 was, 187 Ibs. The absolute increase in importation is 

 shown by the following short table : . 



TABLE XXIII. 

 IMPORTS OF WHEAT INTO ENGLAND. 



(In Million Cwt,.) 



Quinquennial Imports 



Period (Average Annual) 



1851-1855 58 



1856-1860 56 



t 1861-1865 69 



1866-1870 67 



1871-1875 87 



1876-1880 94 



