362 



Wheat in France. 



With the exception of the past exceptionally bad season, 

 the increasing yield of wheat is stated to be due not only to 

 the great improvement in French agricultural methods, 

 but also to the spread of agricultural education and to 

 the establishment of agricultural syndicates and co-operative 

 societies for the wholesale purchase of fertilisers, for the 

 carrying out of productive enterprises beyond the means of 

 the individual member, and for other purposes. 



The importation of wheat into France has shown a remark- 

 able decrease during the past few years. In 1894 the 

 quantity imported was 45,900,000 bushels ; in 1895 it was 

 16,600,000 bushels ; and in 1896 it fell again to 5,800,000 

 bushels. The quantity of wheat imported under the system 

 of " temporary admission " increased from 16,431,278 bushels 

 in 1895 to 20,925,574 bushels in i8q6. The "temporary 

 admission'' of wheat duty free with a view to its re-exporta- 

 tion as flour is a system of long standing. Up to 1836 the 

 concession to the export trade took the form of a " draw- 

 back " paid on the flour leaving the country. In that year 

 the system of " temporar}^ admission " was applied with the 

 proviso that the flour should be exported from the port which 

 it had entered as grain. This condition was removed in 

 1861, and re-imposed in 1873. The millers appear never to 

 have become reconciled to this restriction upon their trade, 

 as th*5y call it, claiming that a return to the rule of 1861 

 would go far towards relieving the agricultural crisis ; 

 inasmuch as a miller at Marseilles importing wheat at 

 13 to 14 fr. the quintal (about 220 lbs.) could arrange with 

 another at Dunkirk, paying 18 fr. the quintal, to export 

 the corresponding quantity of flour, and each would find a 

 profit in the transaction. The corn-growers, however, 

 watch jealously any claims made by the millers, and in 1895 

 they succeeded not only in maintaining existing restrictions, 

 but in abrogating what they considered an unfair privilege. 

 In their turn, the millers agitated against this retrograde 

 step, and an attempt was made by the decree of the 31st 

 December, 1896, to compromise the conflicting claims 

 through the division of the country into five zones " ; grain 

 imported into any port within one of these " zones " being 



