693 
Agricultural Depression at Home and Abroad. 
vast tracts of land within the limits thus prescribed. Besides, 
it was not until the autumn of the present year that any such 
low price as 20s. a quarter in England had to be accepted. Pre- 
vious to the present year the great and rapid expansion of the 
wheat area proved that wheat-growing, with the help of the gold 
premium, paid satisfactorily. Therefore such agricultural de- 
pression as exists in Argentina may be regarded as of recent 
origin, and probably not destined to last long, provided that 
currency advantages continue. The worst that can be said of 
the comparative prosperity of farmers in that country is that it 
rests upon an insecure foundation. 
BniTisn Colonies and India. 
As the space at my disposal is nearly exhausted, only a few 
lines can be devoted to the Colonies. That severe depression 
has existed in Canada for many years is attested by complaints 
of it which have constantly appeared in Canadian papers — by the 
fall in the value of farm land and in the prices of its produce, 
and recently by the decrease in the wheat area. In 1891 there 
were 2,277,254 acres under wheat in Ontario and Manitoba, and 
in 1894 only 2,039,194 acres. The area has been declining in 
Ontario for many years, and it is only the settlement of new 
land in Manitoba and the North-West that has kept up the 
acreage for the Dominion as a whole. But this year the area in 
Manitoba was only 6,546 acres more than in 1893, and that of 
Ontario was much less ; so that, together, the two provinces 
grew only 2,039,194 acres, against 2,274,315 acres in 1893. A 
report from Winnipeg in January last stated that great distress 
prevailed among the farmers of Manitoba, and that appeals were 
being made in many quarters for assistance. The President of 
the Patrons of Industry in his annual address said : “ Never in 
our history have we experienced such a critical time. Men’s 
hearts fail them, and many are in want.” 
In Australia and New Zealand alike it is admitted that wheat- 
growing at recent prices has not paid. The acreage of 1892-93 
for all Australasia, including Tasmania, was 3,822,950 acres, as 
compared with 3,870,346 acres for 1889-90. In South Australia, 
the recent Census shows that the agricultural population had 
decreased in the ten years ending with 1891, the number of 
males employed in agricultural pursuits having fallen off by 
1,140 — an unanswerable proof of depression. The value of 
agricultural land has fallen in Australia generally, and in New 
Zealand also. A manifesto issued by the Landowners’ Defence 
League of New South Wales in April last stated that throughout 
the colony “ the last five years have been years of disaster to all 
