AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 909, 20 March 1869, Page 1

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

It is veiy satisfactory to notice that the great value of early and accurate returns of the annual agricultural produce of the country is now fully recognised by the Colonial Government, and that efforts have been made to procure such returns for the present season. We publish today two interim statistical returns which have been furnished to this week's Provincial Government Gazette by Mr Hislop, the Superintendent Collector for Otago, in pursuance of the provisions of the Census Acts Amendment Act of 1567. It appears that the schedules from one or two remote localities have not yet been forwarded, and that the returns as published are not altogether complete. As the land under crop in these localities is of comparatively small extent, and as only two of the electoral districts are affected, it seems to have been thought advisable no longer to withhold from the public the important information already in the Superintendent Collector's po.ssession. Thess returns will no doubt be of great value at the present time, not only to the farmer, but also to the merchant. But while it is of the utmost importance to know the amount of agricultural produce raised in our own province, the possession of this information would be of little practical value, unless the amount produced throughout the entire colony be also ascertained. Such information, however, will be in the possession of the public at no distant date. The Act of Assembly which provides for the annual collection of agricultural statistics throughout the entire colony, requires that ' a return shall be compiled, with as little delay as possible, of the laud in cultivation in each province and of the agricultural produce thereof, and shall be published in the Government Gazette of the province towhich the same shall relate, and also in the New Zealand Gazette.'

For this important find useful measure we are mainly indebted to the exertions of several Otago members of the General Assembly during the session, of ISG7. The Honourable Mr Holjies, in the Legislative Assembly, and Mr Cajipukll, of Oamaru, in the House of Representatives, moved the appointmeutofa, Select Committee 'to con aider the be»t means of annually collecting agricultural" and pastoral statistic*. throughout the whole colony.' The-, passing of the 'Census Acts Amendment Act, 1867,' Avas the result. Ly this Act it was provided ,that the information relating to agricultural and pastoral pursuits procured Ibv means of the-

Triennial Census should be very much fuller than on formfer occasions ; and that complete returns should becollected every year of the land in cultivation, and of the agricultural produce thereof, throughout the entire colony. In the course of the discussions which took place in both Houses during the passing of this measure, the imperative necessity for procuring annual agricultural statistics was fully recognised. In the words of the Honourable John Hall, it was admitted ' that Otago was the only province that was entitled to the credit of having aheady obtained very satisfactory statistics.' This was said in reference to a very complete set of returns relating- to agricultural, pastoral, and other pursuits, which had been procured by the Otago Provincial Government in the beginning of 1867, at the request of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce. Although the information relating to agricultural operations procured in December 1867, in connection with the Triennial Census, was much fuller than on any former occasion, yet no attempt was made to obtain an estimate of the average return per acre of the different crops. In fact, any such estimate made so early in the season as the month of December would have been of little value. Under the present arrangement, therefore, it is only for two out of every three years that a somewhat reliable estimate of the amount of agricultural produce raised in the colony can be obtained. Perhaps, for all practical purposes, it may be sufficient to take the average estimated returns for the two years as giving an approximate result for the third year ; otherwise it might be deserving of consideration whether the Trieimal Census should not be taken a couple of months later. It would be interesting 1 to compare this season's returns with those of former years, and to note the relative progress of the different districts of the province. This, however, could be better done when the completed return for Otago is published. It will be seen from the returns published to-day that the Superintendent Collector for Otago has not confined himself to the duty strictly required of him. Besides exhibiting the results for the General Assembly districts, he lias furnished in a second table the particulars respecting* upwards of twenty well-known and easily recognised sub- divisions of the province. A comparison of the return for Otago with those of the other provinces of New Zealand would also be profitable and interesting. But in order to accomplish this, we must await the appearance of the returns in the New Zealand Gazette. It is not likely that the schedules still wanting" will add greatly to the aggregate return of the wheat crop. It may therefore be held as correct, that in Otago 20,083 acres were .sown in wheat this season, and that the estimated aggregate produce is about f?77,4GG bushels, giving an average of 33 7-10ths bushels per acre for the entire province. According to the Provincial Government's Statistics for 1867, the total number of acres returned under wheat was 1-i,S2B, with .an estimated aggregate return of 559,192 bushels, or an average of 37 \ busbels per acre. It is generally believed, however, that the actual yield after tlirabliing fell considerably short oi that estimate. Owing to the very propitious weather which lias prevailed .since the beginning of February, when the returns were ■collected, there is every reason to believe that the actual yield of this year's crop is likely to exceed the estimate generally formed six weeks ag-o ; at all events, that the actual yield will not in the least fall short of the estimate given in the return. Several very important questions naturally suggest themselves, in view of so large a supply of wheat being at our disposal during- the present year. To what extent does our wheat supply exceed the probable requirementi of our own' province ? If we have a surplus, are our fellow-colonists of the other— especially the North Island — provinces, likely to become our customers, and to what extent? If sufficient consumption for New Zealandgrown wheat cannot be procured within-

the colony itself, how and where is our surplus stock to be disposed of?

An article winch appeared in this journal last Saturday, on the ' Home Produce, Imports, and Consumption of Wheat,' showed fchat, taking the average of the last eight years, the annual consumption of wheat in England and Wales was about 6£ bushels per head of the population, in Scotland scai-cely A\ bushels, and in Ireland only about 3J bushels per head. The gross population of Otago in December, 1867, was 48,569, and it may now be safely estimated at about 50,000. By means of the data thus furnished, each of our readers may solve the question above propounded, as to the probable surplus stock of wheat in Otag-o for the current year. But in doing so, he must make a very liberal allowance for the greatly improved capacity for the consumption of flour in its various forms, so universally exhibited by the juvenile no less than by the adult, population of Otago, as compai*ed with that of then* brethren in the Old Country.