COST OF PRODUCTION 231 



duction in New Zealand is as low as the figure arrived at 

 by this Australian experiment, but there is a very con- 

 siderable discrepancy between this estimate and current 

 statements of costs. Even supposing that taxes and rents 

 are higher in New Zealand than in Australia, the average 

 yield per acre is also higher.* It is obvious that there is 

 some error in present estimates for New Zealand, which 

 frequently run as high as 5s. to 6s. The writer obtained 

 a number of estimated costs of production from leading 

 wheat producers in the Dominion, in the autumn of 1915, 

 and in only one case (where the estimate per acre was 

 given), did the cost stated exceed 5. The average of 

 the estimates was about 4 5s. In a few cases 4s. per 

 bushel was considered a fair price. At 30 bushels per 

 acre this would involve a cost of 6 per acre, and where 

 the yield is 30 bushels per acre it is difficult to arrive 

 at a much higher cost. In normal times the cost per 

 acre is generally lower for areas in which the yield falls 

 below 30 bushels per acre. 



6. The Presentation of Data from "Representative" 

 Farms. 



The last stage of the investigation is the presentation 

 of the data collected from three "representative" farms. 

 These data are open to the serious objections mentioned 

 above, in that we cannot isolate wheat production from 

 other rural pursuits, and that sufficient time has not 

 been available for the comprehensiveness of the estimate. 

 The farms, however, may be considered as representative, 

 and the costs fair average costs for an individual year. 



The plan adopted in the estimates given here has been 

 to obtain from certain farmers a statement of their actual 

 receipts and expenditure in the production of a crop on 



*Though conditions in Australia and New Zealand differ 

 greatly, on the whole there was remarkable similarity between 

 the conditions under which the above mentioned cost was 

 obtained and the general conditions in New Zealand. 



