264 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 
supplies to be less than the amount required for home 
consumption, price could not rise much higher than 
the English price; for the prospects of a high price 
here would soon attract supplies from India or Canada.* 
At present if we are threatened with wheat shortage, 
the price must rise higher than the price in outside 
markets by the amount of the duty, together with the 
total cost of transport. The very evil which advocates 
of the duty anticipate is accentuated by the imposition 
of the duty. Again, were the duty not to ensure a 
sufficient home supply in the event of a serious drought, 
and assuming that a serious shortage existed in 
Australia at the same time, the very fact which the 
advocates of the duty fear, we should then be under 
a more serious disadvantage in this respect than if we 
had free trade. Even were the duty suspended for 
the time, the evil would not be dispensed with, for the 
difficulty of securing importation where there had been 
none previously would cause some inconvenience. 
Protection is, therefore, on the whole not necessary 
for the industry. Production would be carried on even 
were it abolished. The system of mixed farming makes 
this necessary. Then, again, Australian millers would 
welcome supplies of ‘‘soft’’ wheats like the New Zealand 
varieties for blending purposes. It has also been shown 
that production is profitable here at about 3s. 3d. per 
bushel. Now, Australia would not export wheat to New 
Zealand unless the price was an approximation to the 
English price, the difference being the amount by which 
cost of transport to New Zealand is less than that to 
England. This, indeed, in the long run, would amount 
to very little, for the shipping service between New 
Zealand and Australia is relatively more costly and 
*During the first year of the War, when wheat prices rose 
so much in New Zealand, they were rarely above the English 
prices. 
