268 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 



Government would then raise the price in self-defence, 

 since they had bought at a price which was equivalent 

 to 6s. 3d. c.i.f. This anticipation was realised, for on 

 January 8th, 1915, a third proclamation was issued, 

 when the maximum price was fixed at 5s. 9d. per bushel, 

 and at this price the Government sold the imported 

 wheat, thus losing 6d. per bushel on the transaction. 

 The position was unsatisfactory, for the law was being 

 evaded, and bread had risen to 9^d. for the 4 Ib. loaf. 

 Pressure had been brought to bear on Parliament from 

 the merchants and the farming community, and on 

 February 8th, all restrictions on the sale of wheat and 

 flour were removed. Flour rose to 16 and 17 per ton 

 in March and April as a result, and sales of wheat at 

 7s. per bushel on trucks at country stations were not 

 infrequent. 



In the absence of control the prices of wheat often 

 remained at a very high figure for several months. The 

 rise was accentuated by a miscalculation in the esti- 

 mates of the 1915-16 crop. At first it was thought 

 that the yield would be less than 5,000,000 bushels, 

 and a scarcity was predicted. The price of wheat 

 rose steadily, and in September, 1915, was 7s. 6Jd. 

 per bushel. But later information as to area sown 

 and probable yield per acre showed that the harvest 

 would reach 6,500,000 bushels.* This was due mainly 

 to a much larger area than usual of spring wheat 

 being sown. Although it was unfortunate that such a 

 scarcity had been predicted, the error appears to have 

 been largely unavoidable. Price then fell, and during 

 the later months of 1915 was about 4s. lOd. per bushel, 

 but there was another rise early in 1916. All this time 

 the price of flour was disproportionately high; for, in 

 January, 1914, when the price of wheat was 4s. 5Jd., 

 the price of flour was 10 5s. per ton. The corresponding 



*The actual harvest of 1916 was 7,108,360 bushels. 



