HISTORY OF WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 97 
CuaPtTer VI, 
HISTORY OF WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW 
ZEALAND. 
1. Early History. 
The story of the early history of the colonisation 
of New Zealand is familiar in these days, but of the 
habits and activities of the early colonists a great deal 
has yet to be written. Although there are many 
pioneers who can relate experiences which throw much 
light on these there is still wanting a reliable descrip- 
tion of the economic life of the Dominion during the 
first half century of its settlement. Necessarily such 
an account would give prominence to agriculture, for 
industries such as whaling and sealing, the first 
to attract visitors to these shores, were for the most 
part transient. It was indeed during the rise and fall 
of these industries that the pursuits—agricultural and 
pastoral—which were to make New Zealand so pros- 
perous, and become so largely responsible for the 
progress of the last four decades were being slowly 
but surely established. 
During the decade ending in 1850, the conception of 
New Zealand as an agricultural community rested on 
the prosperity of a few settlements in the North Island 
and the progress that had been made in the Nelson 
district. Few, if any, had realised that Canterbury 
and Otago, because of their superiority in ease of 
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