The Clutha Leader. BALCLHTHA : FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1877.

Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 149, 18 May 1877, Page 4

The Clutha Leader. BALCLHTHA : FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1877.

In" dealing with the. agricultural statistics in last issue, we confined bur attention to New Zealand. Now let us go for a few facts outside the colony altogether. Let us see what the yield per acre is in/ spine other countries. Air M'Culloch estimates' the produce per acre of average land in England at -32 bushels per acre. The estimates, however, or the Board of Trade, which ought to be ! a good' judge, is only 28 bushels. The country which conies nearest to England, or rather which is now on an equal footing with England in this respect, is Holland. The average produce per acre in Holland has been rising of late years, until, in 1874, it reached England's standard of 2S bushels,- or rather exceeded it by the fractional part of a bushel. We believe that the yield per acre in Germany is about 18 bushels, in France 13 J bushels, and in the United States l 2£ bushels. The average yield per acre of wheat in Russia in 1872 was only 5 J bushels. This may have been an unusually hud season. Let us charitably hope that it was so. - At all events, the yield of wheat in that country, though very large, is very small considering* the im- | mense acreage that is sown with this cereal. It is well known alsc that the yield of wheat per acre in South Australia is very much smaller than with us. Indeed, we have heard that in bad seasons it isabout as^low as Russia was in: 1872. . -.•.•-..■..,-■ ■ ■ Ii is very satisfactory that New Zealand, and "particularly the part of it in which Your lot/ is' cast, ; compares so favourably with other countries. We trust it will continue to compare thus favourably. Nay, we do not " see why th© yield per acre in New Zealand" should - not be increased. ■. ;We refer tothe. northern provinces, but even in regard to Canterbury and Otago, we

believe that' inipyd^itehts" in farmin, should' raiieV^average per acre, ff ■ H^], a .nd'Jhas,;jby\weil directed fc ff orf , raised her -average, co the English stan! dard, surely .the average in Canterbury and Otago, which, even.Jtl rt 4egin wii), is higher than! .the. ■JEiigJish/avernije might,' by similar efforts, be! increased. A word as/to the money .value of tl". ■present' crop ': : '.■/■,"..[], \'l 4,110,193 bushels wheat at (say ) "4s, - £8*) n^i 4,821,360 „•' oats' ■ ' V :U ■ 4V>v t .831,930. „ , barley ■ -JJ: :■.«£..- g^j T ■,' ' ■ •' - J •"•-" "'•...."..'.'? -''*M2BSl Jt , thus appears that' the value of t|, j '.present crop is well nigh a; million nn j a-h'alf sterling., There is "no return % J yet published, so for as wear.c awaii 1 ;bf. the export' of woqHor tVe last y<Wl but the estimrftetl 'value of the! wool n ll ported m';iß7s:Vas-''^3,398;r55 W.'N see, then, that the value pf our grain j' I coming well up to, half die value of on- 1 ; WO6l. ' • r '•■ r ' •' '• '"■ '* '. ■ ' ;>'! " The wheat r cropbf,the present y Paf l is : considerably' in excess of the crop of I the'previous ; year. , ThY preset year'! t crop iVGstimated;at;4,llp;qop.l)iishe]s' 1 the 'last year's crop' was"' estimated a ! [I 2,803,000. bushels. There: is'Wn ar 1 increase this year of l;2f 7,000 bushel, § There is, however) a consideVahhj d^l cieiVcy in the oat crop. Tjie }m* m ß year's /crop : is' estimated; at; 'i",B2 1,000 % bushc-ls. ' ' The previous; 'year's crop \vi S |l estimated 1 at ! : no l less' 'tliap'.6,:Jo7 OooM bushels:' There is thits'.a'/faUin- „ff j n | ■ he ba *. ohi P: 0 /. 2o\iess:thari; 1,4:30,000 I b.ushelsi ; 'In barley^ ; hlso" theie is a f a ]| I ing off of 162,'OOCi'busbels. v We do'fco'tp wonder at 'the' state of' .filings revealed Sp by these statistics. ■ Theiair price tli-t^ wheat broughf ! last yejar donbtless il i diiced the farmevs/to sow?- a greater breadth of- wheat,. and : . tli'e,'' low price 'i of bats for the "past, two or three years doubtlessinduced them to sow a * lesser area than r ! formeriy with thai cereal. . ' " ' ,; These figures enable us to .form an^ ' estimate of the amount pf crop we s |i a ||jF£ -have "available" for export. In the ym U 1875 we expoVt;ed 630,000 bushels M oats. But. that, year, as 'shown by t!i 6 M February returnsi ' the : crop was lamer ?-4 by 700,000 bushels than it is tliis> r ,p Taking this as a guide to some exfenfl % and also considering- that there is a falling ! off this years' compared with "I tiie last year of "nWly a. million iinda- ? half of bushels, 'we do not think tlwa will' be -Hindi,, if any, of,' the oat crop available for export this season. f % It is otherwise with -whea*. After '^ supplying our own wants, we shouM( ; iS have a considerable surplus to export. rS Assuming roughly that the a vernal population of New Zealand du-ino-tU : -^ current year is 400,00.0, and thut' eacljf person will consume six bushels of; d 'wheat, we shall consume in the colonri 2,4oo,ooo 'bushels. Assumiug that diet - same breadth is sown -in wheat as was i ■■• sown last year, we shall yenuire for mil' ■' 400,000 bushels.;. But! as W breadth I /i sown in wheat next year is cer- ?/l tain to exceed the .present year, we inajM estimate "the quantity required for seed t " at 500,000 bushels;. This would leawN 120,000 bushels available, for export*-^ Other deductions may have to bo math Xv for waste ami other tilings... Outspeak- ?>t ing- in round numbers, we imagine we I % shall have' 100,000. bushels of wheat top export after supplying- our own rd-|l quirements. 'We- export" each year a fJt considerable quantity of wheat, in |t 1375 we exported. s4B,oo,o busliel?, and |!i our crop, that year did not reach our II present year's estimate by fully 1,000,000 p bushels.- It is true that vye always iin- ft porf a considerable quantity both of f* nour and. wheat; Doubtless we shall B i (io the saoie this' year. But, in dm | case, we shall only' have 'the greater V quantity of wheat, ol our own gi-owingl j to expprt; "'. ..''.' : i We think we are fairly justified in |§ drawing- the . conclusion^ from these |3 statistics chat it is a piece of folly in |J having-' an imp6rfc.|duty on .grain. If ll the. colony was .'not self-sustaining in || this respect, and if It was desirable to ||| stimulate our farmers' ft), reach the self- |1 "sustaining' point, then- there inio-ht bs "fjj some reason Tor having- .an i.nport duty; %% but as we are far beyond the self-siis- } % taining- point, as we have a large surplus f ;] to dispose of after supplying our own -| % .wants, we can conceive no possible rea- | : ; son for continuing the duty. Our true |:-; policy is to look out for. suitable mar- M kets. Australia is our nearest market %% There is an import duty 'on a-rain into \% Victoria. There can be ro do-ibt that |f this acts injuriously' on, our farmers. | "■; But how can we take any steps to in- p :< duce Victoria to. open her ports to our •: :: cereals so long- as wo close our ports C against her cereals.. lv% We have only one other matter to •.^ refer to in connection with theso stat's- pities. We took occasion to compare the r| production of cereals in the Oluthadis- ?I trict with the Province of Taranaki. |-:^ We found that the Clutha district was [1 immeasurably superior both in point of ;| quantity and fertility to the Province of | J i aranaki. Taranaki returns three mem- -4 bers to the -House 1 of Representatives. ;| Ie is well known tliat the over-repre- ' "\ sentation of Taranaki is often referred to in the Legislature. The gro md on ■' ;! S which this 'is ; usually argued is that rj Taranaki has not thepopulation to en- '' J title her to three members. "We have, .5 however, found ouf incidentally that this quesiion- maybe argued on other |.^ grounds — viz., '-the-very'-limitefl quao- -J tity^of her agricultural productions, and ; | the comparative poverty of her soil. So long as such, glaring inequalities exist -^ in the representation of the colony as ja|

/..allowing, three.. members to; Taranaki, we cannot 1 expect uiuch justice to be meted out to Otago. *--,-. Since commencing" this article we have seen the returns of the Province of Wellington;; They pre in a very recent issue of the Gazette. . The returns just seem to. be published as they come in, and at considerable intervals oi time. We are glad to see from the Wellington returns that Wellington has this year doubled her wheat crop. Last year Wellington grew only 27,000 •bushels of wheat. This year the wheat crop is estimated at 54,000 bushels. In the oat crop there is a decrease of 10,000 bushels. These figures cannot, however, materially affect any remarks we have made.