174 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 
coincidence that prices should have fallen in these years. 
The explanation of the general falling tendency is to 
pe found in the decreased production of gold together 
with the rapid expansion of the Colony, with consequent 
increased production of staple products. As explained 
in the previous chapter, progress in wheat growing in 
New Zealand was never so great as it was in the late 
‘‘seventies’’ and early ‘‘eighties.’’ With falling prices 
in the great world markets and over-production at home, 
the inevitable reaction occurred in the decade 1883-94, 
prices falling very low. Unfortunately for New Zealand, 
wheat, at this time, was one of her staple exports, and 
the great fall in its value brought severe depression 
upon the colonists. 
(c) The Period from 1895—Prices Rising. — In the 
early ‘‘nineties’’ the tide turned in favour of the cereals, 
and from that time a marked upward tendency is 
recorded in price movements. Although the general 
trend is upwards, the outstanding feature of the curve 
is again violent fluctuations. Very high prices were 
recorded in 1897-8, 1903, and 1908, while the period 
1899-1901 was one of very low prices, and falls of minor 
importance occurred in 1904-6 and 1910. The explan- 
ation of these fluctuations is again to be found to a large 
extent in local conditions of yield. Thus the years of 
1897-8, 1902, and 1907-8, were years of low yields, and 
these corresponded with the years in which high prices 
were recorded. Then again, prolific yields were recorded 
in 1899-1900, 1905, and 1909-10, where there is corres- 
pondence with low prices. In 1908 prices rose very high, 
reaching an average for the year of 4s. 74d., the highest 
figure for almost 30 years. This relatively high price 
can be accounted for in turning to the production not 
only in New Zealand but also in Australia. For the 
years 1907-8 production in the Dominion had been 
