THE WHEAT YIELD.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9126, 10 June 1895, Page 2

THE WHEAT YIELD.

MEMORANDUM BY THE REGISTRARGENE KAL. (PRESS ASSOCIATION* TJ.LBORAM.) WELLING lON, May 16. The Registrar-General has prepared ths following memorandum upon ths wheat yield of the colony :— • "The wheat harvest of 1895 has been

generally good throughout tha colony, the total yield showing an average of 24.32 bushels per acre, but as only 149,575 acres were sown in wheat the crop realised waa not more than 3,613,037 bushels ag-ioet 4,891,695 bushels in 1834, 8,378,217 bushels » in 1893, and 10,257,733 bushels in 1892, Owing to the poor harvest in 189 V the exports of wheat and flour (equivalent bushels of wheat) for that year were 280,825 bushels ooly, against 2,709,311 bushels ia 1893, while the imports increased from 2231 bushels, in 1893, to 65,816 bushels in 1894. Taking an average of eighteen yaw* it is found that, exclusive of the quantity required for seed, the yearly consumption of wheat per head of the moan population I» 7.33 bushels. It is held that this iate is at' least one bushel too high—the projwrjjqa last year was 6.45 bushels--H)Wto T iilr}" ; 'o'^' ; estimates in yields returned/JEr/t'%ra«r.[i(p the past. Accepting thea 6.3obushela as the amount per head required for food, and assuming the mean population for 1895 to be 675,500 person, (including Maoris), it follows that 4,630,505.. bushels will satisfy the actual food requirements for the year ; iv addition seed for Bay 150,000 acres mubt be provided, this at two bushels per acre (300,000 bushels) brings up the total quantity required in the colony to 4,930,500 bushels. A foregoing table shows the wheat crop for 1895 to have been 3,613,037 bushels, to which must be added the quantity grown by Maoris estimated at 270,075 bushels, aud the amount of 1894 crop still held by farmers 259,747 bushels, making a total of 4,152,859 bushels in the colony. From this it would appear that unless large stocks are held by grain merchants not only ia there this year absolutely no wheat available for export 6 , but the colony may have to import more than' half a million bushels of wheat, or equivalent in flour, to supply the estimated demand. The wheat crop has fallen from 4,891,695 bushels in 1894 to 3,613,037 bushels this year. It is worthy of special notice that the quantity of last year's crop remaining on hand with farmers'has likewise fallen from 557.315 to 259,747 bushels, a decrease of 297,568 f bushels, or at the rate of more than 53 per cent. ■.' . V

"Returns are to hand from Victoria, showing that the yield of wheat in that colony for the current year has been 11,226,809 bushels, against 15,255,200 bushels for the year 1894. "Of 148,575 acres in wheat this year there were no lets than 107,352 acres io Canterbury and 31,653 acres in Otago. The are* in wheat for Canterbury showed a deoreanv from 174,252 acres iv 1894 to 107,352 acrei in 1895, and of estimated produoe "fws--3,407.842 bushels to 2,540,936 bushed In - Otago land laid down in wheat in 1895 waa about two-thirds of the quantity for 1894» v the reduction being from 53,058 acre* to; 31,653 acres, and the estimated yield from 1,161,672 bushels to 830,715 bushels."