THE PRICE OF WHEAT 173 



obtained for exporting, obviously the tendency to export 

 could be stopped only by offering a high price after 

 the harvest of 1877. Thus, the price was kept at a high 

 figure until English wheat fell. A further cause of the 

 high price is found in the increased gold production 

 of New Zealand during 1871, Dr. Mcllraith's index 

 number of gold production rising from 123 to 144, 

 while his index number of general prices shows a sonte- 

 what smaller rise. The increase in gold production was 

 due to the discovery of a rich goldfield on the West 

 Coast of the South Island. As this area lacks both 

 extensive areas of fertile land and those climatic 

 conditions which are necessary for the successful 

 development of agricultural industries, the discovery, 

 in addition to causing an efflux of the agricultural 

 labouring population, created an extensive demand for 

 food stuffs from the neighbouring farming provinces, 

 which aggravated the already strong tendency for these 

 to rise in price. 



The high price of 1877 was not maintained, for in the 

 two following years a rapid fall brought the index 

 number from 177 to 116. Encouraged by the high price 

 of 1877 farmers extended their areas, and in both the 

 following years production exceeded 6 million bushels. 

 A further rapid development of agriculture kept price 

 at an abnormally low figure, and the absence of dis- 

 turbing influences brought about a few years of price 

 stability in the early "eighties." 



After 1884, however, the characteristic feature of 

 the graph of New Zealand wheat prices is again in 

 evidence, price falling rapidly and rising again with 

 equal rapidity four times in a decade, the "troughs" 

 in the curve being recorded in 1885, 1888, 1890, and 

 1893-4. Local harvests are in some degree responsible 

 for these fluctuations; for the years 1884, 1888, 1890, 

 and 1892, were years of prolific yields, and it is no mere 



