COST OF PRODUCTION 217 
CHaprer IX. 
COST OF PRODUCTION. 
1. A Gontroversial Question. 
An investigation into the present position of the 
wheat industry in New Zealand, of necessity involves 
an estimate of the cost of producing a crop. This 
estimate must be sufficiently accurate to enable us to 
draw a conclusion on the much discussed question, 
whether wheat growing in New Zealand is really a 
remunerative pursuit. In recent years there has been 
much discussion of this matter. Much public controv- 
ersy has resulted, and the arguments revealed in this 
controversy have shown a lack of knowledge on the part 
of those who are directly concerned with the industry, 
and who should make it a matter of first importance to 
collect reliable information on the question. On the 
other hand, those who complain of a ‘‘dear loaf’’ have 
affirmed much but proved little. The farmer stoutly 
maintains that he is unable to produce wheat at a profit 
under present circumstances, and the miller sympathises 
with him mainly for the purpose of keeping up the 
import duty on wheat and flour, the abolition of which 
would, in his opinion, be most disastrous to the com- 
munity at large, not to mention the shock it would give 
to his interests in the country. Equally unreasonable in 
his arguments is the average consumer, who sees the 
farming community prospering, and who fancies fabulous 
profits must fall to the farmer’s lot from every field of 
wheat he grows. It is not expected that he should 
know what are the expenses incurred in producing a 
crop, but the producer himself should be held guilty of 
