190 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 
purposes.* But the conclusion that we could produce 
annually 18,750,000 bushels of wheat without disturbing 
the normal course of agriculture to any great extent, is 
of far-reaching importance. Moreover, the transference 
of areas from pastoral arid other pursuits to wheat 
production would be a matter of comparative ease in 
many parts of the country, notably Central Otago, which 
could quickly be turned to a cereal growing district by 
the adoption of irrigation and improved methods of 
cultivation, as is being done in similar regions in 
Australia and California. 
The actual supply of land, however, is not an import- 
ant consideration in arriving at a conclusion as to the 
merits and de-merits of a system of cultivation. Of more 
importance is the size of the farms, which will be studied 
after considering briefly the systems of land occupation. 
(c) Occupation of Land—(i) Relation of Freehold 
and Leasehold.—‘‘In the earlier years of the settlement 
of New Zealand there were opportunities for men of 
capital and judgment to acquire large estates at reason- 
able prices, especially when money was needed for 
administration and roads and bridges. As the best land 
in the course of years passed from the Crown, the country 
became a series of agricultural communities interspersed 
with large properties, and as time went on, those in 
search of lands urged that they should be allowed to 
occupy these large estates instead of being compelled 
to go into inaccessible back country without roads and 
railways.’’+ ‘This latter movement became so strong that 
in 1892 was passed the Land for Settlements Act, already 
referred to, whereby the Crown undertook to buy up 
*It is by no means certain that wheat supplies will be in 
abundance after the War. Should there be a continuation of 
the present scarcity considerable quantities may again be ex- 
ported from New Zealand. The matter is discussed in the 
concluding chapter. 
+'‘New Zealand Official Year Book’’ (1914). Page 521. 
