iv PREFACE 
economie condition except in the most general outline,’’ and 
there is little reliable information at the service of those 
‘tanxious to frame equitable measures adequate to a given 
set of conditions and eager to persuade the people of their 
efficiency.’’ Recently, a number of investigations into economic 
questions in New Zealand has clearly illustrated the dis- 
advantages under which we are working, and proved adequately 
the necessity for such research work. It is claimed for this 
work that it is one of a number which have for their purpose 
the dissemination of accurate information on the economic life 
of the Dominion, the lack of which, at present exposes us to 
severe criticism. 
The rural industries have been sadly neglected in this matter, 
though they offer a comparatively easy field to the enterprising 
research student, and are subject, more than any other group, 
to unenlightened criticism by the general mass of men. They 
are, indeed, our primary industries, forming the basis of our 
national life. The present work must be regarded as merely 
u prelude to further work, both intensive and extensive, on 
such a vast field, and if it is the means of stimulating greater 
interest in such important problems as those of the wheat 
industry, the author will be encouraged to extend its scope and 
usefulness, when the opportunity offers. 
The culmination of a great decline in wheat production, 
co-existent with the disturbing social and economic conditions 
eaused by the titanic struggle in the Old World, should give to 
the work an element of practical value in the immediate future. 
The work is by no means an exhaustive treatment of so 
great a question. At many points I have been forced to abandon 
interesting and profitable lines of discussion, in the endeavour 
to solve completely the main issues, which the problem presented 
at the outset. But the extent and complexity of these have 
exceeded expectations, and the results ef the investigation, as 
far as it has gone, are increased interest in the work, and added 
enthusiasm to pursue it further. 
I have endeavoured throughout to keep well in mind the 
possibility of forecasting from reliable data the probable 
tendencies in wheat production in both the immediate and the 
ultimate future. This is the main function of an historical 
investigation; to use a knowledge of the past for a better 
understanding of the present, in the hope that tendencies may 
be accurately indicated and measured. But I have frequently 
sought indications of concrete representation of the @ priors 
