148 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 
prices is necessary. The most successful speculator is 
he who gets first-hand information, and his success 
depends entirely on the accuracy of his estimates. Thus 
“it follows that where organised speculation is found the 
most perfected facilities for securing early and reliable 
information will exist. 
Investigations on the influence of the operation of 
dealings in ‘‘futures’’ on the level of prices, all tend 
to show that the prices of commodities which are subject 
to such dealings are lowered both by the reduction of 
risks and the diminished cost of handling the commodity. 
While increasing the frequency of price fluctuations, 
dealings in ‘‘futures’’ decrease the range of these 
fluctuations. A Committee of the British Association 
for the Advancement of Science submitting their report 
in 1900 found these results after an investigation into 
the effects of ‘‘futures’’ on wheat and cotton. These 
conclusions, moreover, are in agreement with the work 
of Emery, who has made investigations in the United 
States.* ‘‘Speculation,’’ says Dondlinger,t ‘‘is the 
flywheel which imparts to the modern commercial 
machine a motion so uniform that all of its parts 
operate continuously and simultaneously.’’ In various 
ways the effects of speculation are beneficial to the 
community. Thus speculation has the effect of directing 
production and consumption into the most advantageous 
channels. Speculators are the men best equipped for 
securing and interpreting news of variations in supply 
and demand; and thus a price is determined which, with 
slight local variations, prevails throughout the world. 
Again, speculation anticipates price-determining events, 
and tends to equalise prices at different periods. Through 
the speculative market flows a continuously moving 
stream of business which will carry the risks of merchant, 
*See ‘‘Speculation.’’ Chapter IV., Section II. 
t*‘The Book of Wheat.’’ Page 246. 
