BY C. EOLLESTOX, ESQ. 239 



The computed value of our imports and home produce 

 together was at the annual rate of 2 7s. 8d. per head of the 

 population, against 3 7s. 6d., during the previous five years. 



The difference in the rate is attributable not (as has been 

 shown) to deficiency of quantity, but to the higher value during 

 the earlier quinquennial period. 



Including wheat for seed, the net quantity of wheat and flour 

 left for consumption, after deducting exports, averaged 47,919 

 tons, that is, at the rate of 134 tons to every 100 of the popula- 

 tion equal to about 260 Ibs. to every man, woman, and child in 

 the colony, that is, about 40 Ibs. less per head per annum than 

 we found to be the consumption of the previous quinquennial 

 period. 



It is reasonable to attribute the higher rate of consumption of 

 the first five years to the comparative extravagance of the period 

 following the gold discovery. We know that waste and ex- 

 travagance marked that era, not in food only, but in drink, in 

 dress, and in necessaries of all kinds. The sobering process of 

 the last five years has had the effect of introducing habits of 

 economy into every household, as herein exemplified. 



What are the results then of this branch of our inquiry ? They 

 are these : First, we imported during the decade 1854 to 

 1863, inclusive wheat and flour to the value of 3,616,498, we 

 exported to the value of 888,238, leaving a sum of 2,728,260 

 against the colony for breadstuff's, exclusive of rye, oats, barley, 

 rice, &c. 



Secondly, that whilst the extent of land sown in wheat has 

 increased by 32 per cent, over the average of the first five years, 

 the average yield of our own crops has not kept pace with this 

 increase, nor with the increase of the population. This result 

 is owing, for the most part, to the disasters of the last two 

 years. Excepting the year 1854 the crop of last season was 

 far below any year of the decade. The largest yield was in 

 1856, viz. 1,756,964 bushels off 106,124 acres ; the smallest 

 was in 1863, 808,919 bushels, off 103,962 acres, equal to 95 

 Ibs. of flour per head of the population, without deducting 

 wheat for seed, or about one third the quantity required for 

 consumption. 



