1 
50 The Indian Wheat Trade. 
trial enterprise. But wHen tlie ttrob of the steam-ruill shall ' 
resound in every corner of India, a decline in European imports I 
will occur, together with a marked falling-off in the annual pay- ■ 
ments for interest on foreign capital. This state of affairs, when \ 
it does come about, will leave a smaller surplus of produce for 
export ; but as long as agriculture gives employment to the vast > 
majority of the people, so long must the demand for European 
goods be paid for by agricultural exports. Wheat is remune- ' 
rative now ; but when it ceases to be so, other ci-ops will be sub- 
stituted, and agricultural enterprise thus continued. The people 
of India have few wants. When it will not pay them to sell 
wheat, they can live contentedly for a time on the produce of i 
their fields, and wait for more favourable ojienings. 
III. — The Indian Wheat Trade. By WiLLiAM E. Bear, 
Rydal Road, Streatham. 
The extent to which the price of wheat in this country has been 
affected by imports from India is a question upon which a great \ 
difference of opinion exists. On the one hand, it is contended I 
that, as the quantity of wheat received from India is small in i 
comparison with the total foreign supply, the great fall in values \ 
which has taken place during the last ten years cannot be attri- I 
buted to the Indian contributions, especially as they have fallen j 
off for the last two years from the maximum attained in 1885 ; 
while, on the other hand, it is urged that a comparatively small | 
addition to supplies pre^dously, as a rule, in excess of the demand, ' 
is quite sufficient to account for a great depreciation. Now, 
in considering these contrary opinions, it is first to be pointed 
out that the Indian exports to Europe, and not to the United 
Kingdom alone, should be considered in estimating their effect 
upon prices here, because supplies from a new source to any 
importing country in continental Europe set free an equal | 
quantity in one or more of the exporting countries for our use, I 
if we require it. For instance, if India sends a million quarters | 
of wheat to Italy, which Russia would have supplied if it had 
not been for India, Russia can send us a million quarters more 
than she otherwise could have spared for our use. This is an 
important point, for, although the supplies of Indian wheat to 
this countiy fell off slightly in 188G, and greatly in 1887, the 
total exports from India in the financial year 1886-87 were ' 
greater than they had ever been before. 
The following table is given in the latest issue of the " State- 
ment of the Trade of British India " : — i 
