AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS. 47 



(1) Climatic conditions and cost of production. 



(2) Economic conditions. 



(3) System of land tenure. 



(4) Transport facilities. 



(5) Market conditions. 



In summing up his detailed examination Captain Hinckes 

 presented the following balance of plus and minus advantages 

 of the foreign and home grower : 



Overseas Wheat Grower. Home Wheat Grower. 



4- Quality " Strong " wheat. Quality "Weak" wheat. 



-j- Low rates and taxes. High rates, taxes and tithe. 



4- Cheap labour (large fields, Dear labour (small fields, 



machinery effective). machinery ineffective). 



4- Credit system (loans on Credit system. 



machinery). 



4- Grading facilities. Grading facilities. 



- Heavy transport cost to -f- On market. 



market. 



Low yield. 4- Steady and high yield. 



Straw, little or no value. + Straw, very valuable. 



Wheat, with fallows every 4- Grown as a rotation crop. 



second or third year. 



The value of the straw is a great pull for the home producer. 

 It is one of the reasons why every farmer grows some wheat. 



And, in conclusion, Captain Hinckes emphasised his 

 opinion that 



The greatest hope of increasing the wheat cultivation of these 

 islands is by better marketing methods. With better market- 

 ing methods there will be some incentive to the farmer to grow 

 better wheats. He added Another equally important point 

 is the revival of local milling. High railway rates will assist 

 in this direction. By local milling you link up wheat-growing 

 with the rearing of live stock. We now make most of our offals 

 at the port mills. If we could assist the corn grower by cleaning 

 and grading his wheat and grinding it at the local mill, we should 

 have gone a long way towards removing the handicaps which 

 certainly do exist with regard to wheat-growing as compared 

 with other branches of agriculture. Throughout the bad times 

 the farmer relied on his special markets for barley, oats, meat and 

 dairy produce. These special markets saved him from the worst 

 effects of foreign competition in wheat and other products. I 

 do not think you can expect him to throw over these products 



