CONCLUSION 297 



retard the upward trend of wheat prices at a time when 

 general prices are rising. Russia and the other great 

 European areas will have recovered from the effects of 

 this titanic struggle, and will be refreshed and invigor- 

 ated by the very war which caused so much misery, for a 

 new spirit will rise within the various empires. Once more 

 production will increase greatly, for wheat is the staple 

 product of many countries. Thus, Siberia will probably 

 open out her vast tracts for cultivation ; and in Russia, 

 too, expansion will proceed apace. Canada, Argentina, 

 and Australia, where the possibilities of extension are 

 at a maximum, will, under the stimulus of high prices, 

 all have increased their production enormously. It is 

 not unreasonable, therefore, to suppose that the supply 

 will once more partially exceed the demand, a position 

 which has been reached for a few years prior to the 

 War. Prices will then fall, and in New Zealand a 

 diminution in production will be experienced, but not 

 a very great one, for our system of farming will render 

 decrease on a large scale unwise. A period of stagnation 

 is likely to ensue beyond which any further forecast 

 would lead us into the distant future, where we should 

 be treading on very uncertain ground. 



But the most important consideration is the problem 



*The general question of the cost of production has been 

 fully discussed in Chapter IX. It remains here to add a note 

 on the question of high land values. Many contend that the 

 high price of land is a cause of the decrease in production. The 

 factors responsible for high land values are discussed in Chapter 

 IX., but it may be that the expectation of good returns from 

 pastoral farming is an important one. But it must be remem- 

 bered that it is the returns from mixed farming which determine 

 land values in the wheat producing area, and high land values 

 are not a cause of high prices. More accurate is the view that 

 high prices tend to raise the price of land, and the question as 

 to whether high profits from pastoral farming will cause a 

 decrease in the production of wheat depends on the whole 

 problem as to whether mixed farming is the best policy for the 

 wheat producing area. It is contended throughout this work 

 that mixed farming is the most efficient method. (See Chapter 

 VI., Section 8, (a) ). 



