258 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 
Protection as a general policy was condemned, and it 
was considered desirable that the duties, as far as 
possible, should be abolished.* 
The whole question is closely connected with the degree 
to which we realise the importance of the rural industries 
in our national life. Many who advocate protection 
evidently think that the manufacturing industries 
form the greatest element in our economic system. 
The economic history of New Zealand since the early 
days has been the history of her primary industries. The 
varying periods of depression and prosperity which the 
country as a whole has passed through have been syn- 
chronous with fluctuations in value of the products of 
these industries, and at present it is patent that our 
unbounded prosperity is a result of the rapidly rising 
values of farm produce. Moreover, an examination of 
our exports reveals the interesting fact that the products 
of the great primary industries are responsible for 
almost 90 per cent. of the totals, the chief other items 
being gold, coal, kauri gum, flax, and timber, themselves 
direct products of the soil. Furthermore, the value 
of these exports has almost doubled during the past 
decade, and between 1905 and 1910 it rose by nearly 
50 per cent. At the same time it must be remembered 
that the produce consumed locally increased greatly 
during the same period; for there was both an increase 
in population and a rise in the standard of living. 
We proceed to examine our manufacturing industries 
during the same period—1905 to 1910, years for which 
we have statistics based upon census returns. In 1905 
the total value of raw materials used in factories was 
£12,681,358, and the value of the output was £22,422,726. 
*See Report of the Commission on the Cost of Living in 
New Zealand, 1912. Parliamentary Papers, H-18. Pages lxxvii- 
lxxxi, xcii-xciii. 
One Commissioner dissented from this view. 
