AN ENQUIRY. 



17 



political parties, that one of tlie gravest features 

 of the depression which has been so manifest in 

 the course of the prices of ag-ricultural products 

 has been its persistency. 



Foreign Competition. 



How far did foreign competition affect the fall 

 in prices? In our opinion it has been, and still 

 is, as already suggested, the main cause of such 

 fall. 



Look at the importation of cereals, which has 

 been as follows: — 



We have, in the case of wheat and wheat flour, 

 nearly doubled our imports in the period indi- 

 cated, whilst the figures are still increasing. 

 During the period 1875-77 to 1893-95, whilst the 

 augmentation in the importation of the foreign 

 wheat was accompanied by a diminution in the 

 value of that article to the extent of 50 per cent., 

 such fall was not equal to that which occv.rrcd 



B 



