THE COLONY'S GRAIN SUPPLY.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12502, 25 May 1906, Page 10

THE COLONY'S GRAIN SUPPLY.

♦_ _ AN UNSATISFACTORY HARVEST.

REPORT BEFORE FARMERS' UNION.

I II At tho Provincial Conference of tho Farmer* , Union yostorday morning ( Mr G. A\. Leadloy presented a report b j dealing with tlu petition and prospects i. of the oolo.iy's grain supply, and tho t ' probable trend of pricse. Ho had vs.- ---° p.'riencxl difficulty in. obtaining answora r to his enquiries in some directions, tbo .. tarnier.,' pot aversion, apparently, being fj to writo letters. Ho had, however, •. j bsen nb!e to clean from the various - I sources a.n amount of valuable infoiy . niat.on which on the wheta indicated i I that the year's harvest mu.vt be rogardi ied as a;iy:hj.ng but a good one, either 1 i in of yii.xl or condition and quaJ- . ity of the grain gathered. When t'ho 1 agricultural returovj were coJlcctod in j October and November last, tho colony s was .said, to have in store from c th« previous year's harvest 2,990.343 fc bushels of wheat and 2,O,jiUG6 hushote I of oats. During October there were ? exported 87,905 bushels of wheat and i 80.232 of oat*. The following month - 100,511 bushels of wheat ami 135,847 ■ of oats woro exported. He had hoped , to supplement those figures by ethers obtain.d from the Ciwtioms Depart- ! ment, but was unable to do so. Ho I was informed, however, that from the ' j Bluff tho following were the exports 'of oats: —December, 52,428 bushels*; January, 5338; February, 13,157, and. j March, 13,147; total 84,070 bushels. ! Assuming the statistics from the New ! ; Zealand Gazette to bo correct, tho ' monthly consumption of flour in the , colony represented roughly 430,000 '' bushels of wheat, or 5,160,000 bushels per annum. On that ba,*>is, durinig tlie six months from November, 1905, to April, 1906, there had lreen consumed 2,580,000 bushels, and it to that was added the quantity exported, then , 1 j there was little or no old wheat left at I the beginning of this cereal year. For i their food and Beed requirements of this year they had produced 222,965 acres of wheat, a decrease of 35,050 i acres on the preceding year; estimating the yield for tfhie year at 28 bushels, j I they had a grcss return of 6,243.020 buahele. He was convinced that that was a very liberal estimate, and therefore, with the increased consumption caused by tho increase of population, consequent on tlie influx of visitore during Exhibition time, and tho almost \ complete failure of the potato crop, ' j and the apparent probability of an in- < creased quantity being necessary thie year for seed puqwses, the supply of wheat would all be required in the colony. >' Moreover, ac a considerable amount [of damage had been done through t'he ' ! ; wet weather during harvest, prime i millers' wh>eat would not bo in \ over supply. Tho conclusions lie had j arrived at froTT. the enquiries made were , as follows:—(1) Tho correctness of the , surmise he had made <at the March meet- | : I ing of the Piwincial Exoeutivo as to tho j 1 quantity and value of the grain. It was j : then said that the valuo approximated more nearly to 3s 6d for wheat and 2s for aits, nnd that tliose prices would i be readied; they wore ridiculed, but } ] subsequent events hud justified the pro- \ ' diction. (2) He saw more than ever the ; \ absolute necessity for some more reli- i «ble and prompt sources of information ". on market rates of grain Hum those at present available. He had repeatedly urg«d that some system of collecting , and disei'minating information on> the ' J area, conditions, quantity, and trans- ; ections in farm products was an imperative necessity. Until fanners initiated t <-om<; such system, they would continue |i year by year to lose vast sums of money, f A bureau could bo established in coil- l nection with the Union newspaper. Hie ;' ~* investigations pointe<l to another need, j , that of intor-communication between j this colony and the kindred unions and \ ;, associations in the Australian States. Another matter was the fewness of New j Zealand markets in comparison with { r tliow of Australia. He was pleased that :-| Mr Bcddon was interesting himself in the I question, and though doubts bad been ' h expressed by some Christchmch mer- j v chants as to the practicability of open- ! £ ing up a profitable trade with the East, j \ it seemed desirable that something should be done in that direction. The . teeming populations of tho.se lands 1: pointed to a future demand of great :'* possibilities. England must always re- • l main the colony's bes-t customer, but i n competition in London was fierce and increasing. The conclusions lie had airived at might bo summarised as fol- I ~ lows:—This year there would be little or i a no exportable surplus of wheat or oats; j 1 they ini'ed .not fear any appreciable in- i 1 t«rterence with their markets by A us- ' tralian competition; tho failure of tlie'" potato crop would inoroa.se 'he con- ,-J sumption of wheat; the decrease in th<> acnapo under wheat would reduce tlie 1 available supply; prkcfs would maintain n a high level until tho nest crop was i p harvested ; oats would bo doaier than it\ for many years. j "1 In tho course of di.vcus»ion .several ; delegates urged tho lieee.-Hty for oh- ;*' loining more full and complete tnforma- i J , , tiou for disisemination. Mr J. C. N. |n (Jriiig f«iid that as much of tlie btatis- j tical infoniMtion obtained at I iva,> unreliable, the Government' ought • % to compel every- thre.sliing machine in i New Zealand to send in a tally of the grain thic.shod. That could easily bo 4 carried out. as was done in other conn- 4 tries. ; Mr Lill ?ak\ he thought Mr Lead!ev ? 6 ( estimate of 28 bushels was excessive. He | did not think the average would bo c, more than 2o bushels. Tho yield per . \ acre this year, judging by iiis' own ex- j 2 perionc© ajid that of other farmers. ! \ would not be more than half that of last 2 year. % After the luncheon adjournment Mr ' Lead ley replied to various points raisr-<l ' during the di.«cuseion. He was ac- t corded a hearty vote of thaaks for his 4 valuable rri.ort. |