GENERAL CONDITIONS IN NEW ZEALAND 57 
for his own price, but the financial position of many of 
our farmers necessitates an immediate sale. Conse- 
quently they are at the mercy of circumstances which 
may be favourable or otherwise. 
In forwarding our wheat to the market we experience 
a serious disadvantage, when compared with other 
countries, on account of the method of handling the 
grain. Our output is not large enough to warrant any 
system but that of handling in the sack. This conse- 
quently involves a great amount of labour which is not 
required in some other producing areas. 
New Zealand railway facilities are somewhat inade- 
quate for the traffic in the very busy season of the year. 
Small country stations experience considerable difficulty 
in getting the required number of trucks; and often the 
grain must be stacked at the station, sometimes outside 
the shed, which is a risky procedure, for an autumn rain 
would damage large quantities. Farmers throughout the 
country, however, recognise that the railway authorities 
meet them as far as is possible, but the lack of 
sufficient rolling stock is responsible for the delay in 
transportation. 
The export of wheat varies from year to year, as 
reference to the graph of exportation will show.* It will 
be shown in Chapter VI. that the yearly exportation is 
a tolerably good index of the productivity of the indus- 
try in any year. What we are concerned with here is 
whether our methods of exporting are efficient. Details 
have already been given of the almost perfect system 
of marketing and exporting in the United States of 
America, and even if we remember that the widely 
differing circumstances of production and output some- 
what nullify an attempt to compare New Zealand with 
that country, still such a comparison would not only 
show how much inferior are methods in New Zealand but 
would also open the way for reform. Mention has been 
*See Graph VIII., page 101. : 
