CEREALS 115 



naturally with increase of immigration, smaller holdings 

 and increase in dairying, cattle fattening, and pig raising. 

 In the meantime, and for some years to come, local pro- 

 duction will be greater than consumption, and the export 

 trade will benefit the agricultural community by bringing 

 capital into the country. 



Direct Shipment. Our maize trade would be in a much 

 better position if we had direct shipment to Liverpool, 

 Manchester, Waterford, and Glasgow; at present nearly 

 all our grain is sold through London, and transhipment 

 to those ports adds to our cost what might otherwise be 

 gained by the competition of these markets to secure our 

 grain. The merchants at the ports named are very 

 anxious to handle our maize. With the ports competing, 

 it seems to me probable that our trade would be diverted 

 from the Continent, which now consumes more than 

 Great Britain. London brokers admit that theirs is the 

 cheapest grain market in the world, and as long as we 

 are solely dependent upon them we cannot secure such 

 good prices as would be the case if we could ship direct 

 to other ports. 



It would be greatly to the advantage of both South 

 Africa and the other Dominions of the Empire if the 

 commercial bodies of the latter could be made aware of 

 the fact that South African maize is the best in quality 

 and condition of any produced in the world. An export 

 trade with Australia has already commenced. India 

 might take large quantities of our maize in exchange for 

 the more expensive articles of commerce which she pro- 

 duces and we do not. The climatic conditions of Canada 

 do not allow her to produce more than a fraction of the 

 maize which she requires for manufacture and stock food, 

 and I understand that the direct lines of steamers between 

 Cape Town and New York and Canadian ports could 

 carry our maize for less than the tariff charge on some 

 1,500 miles of rail, over which United States maize 

 is carried from the " Corn Belt " to Toronto*, Montreal, 

 or Quebec. Egypt also, though a producer of maize to 

 some extent, is also a buyer, and we might perhaps secure 

 .her trade if she knew what we produce. 



We can produce maize probably more cheaply than 



