130 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 
price that New Zealand has been affected. The price for 
New Zealand is determined, as we shall see in the follow- 
ing chapter, for the most part by English prices, and 
on account of the great distance at which New Zealand 
is situated from the market, price here, when there are 
considerable quantities for export, at times falls below 
the English level by the amount of the cost of carriage. 
Hence in times of low prices in England, when 
production in New Zealand is large, prices in the 
Dominion reach a very low level. It was this state of 
affairs which existed during the closing two decades of 
last century, and this accentuated the already existing 
tendency in favour of pastoral pursuits at the expense 
of wheat growing. .As illustrative of this movement the 
following table showing average prices of English and 
New Zealand wheat for the years 1881-1900 is given :— 
TABLE XXI. 
NEW ZEALAND AND ENGLISH PRIOES. 
1881-1900. 
Year Priese= | “paiseniand 
1881 5/8 4/1 
a 5/7 4/3 
8 5/2 4/3 
4 4/6 3/7 
1885 4fl 3/- 
6 3/10 3/9 
7 4/1 3/9 
8 4]- 3/- 
9 3/9 3/11 
1890 4]- 3/2 
1 4/7 3/10 
a 3/10 4|- 
3 3/8 2/9 
4 2/10 9/6 
1895 2/10 9/11 
3/8 3/7 
7 3/9 4/3 
8 4/3 4/8 
9 3/2 2/9 
1900 3/5 a/5 
*To the nearest penny. 
