INDIAN WHEAT FOX AUSTRALIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1824, 5 November 1886, Page 8

INDIAN WHEAT FOX AUSTRALIA.

The importation of wheat from India to these colonies is one of the consequences — one of the necessary consequences, it might almost be said — of the establishment of regular steam communication between India and Australia, By advices that have been received we learn that two of the vessels now expected are bringing 500 tons, half for Hobart, and the balance for Adelaide, Sydney, and Brisbane, while freightroom for 1000 tons more had been secured in boats to follow shortly. The opening of this trade is a matter of the highest meaning to these colonies, but it does not affect all of them in the same way. New South Wales and Queensland are poor wheat producers, not because that cereal will not grow readily in these two provinces, but from a variety of causes which lead to the investment of capital in other and presumably more profitable pursuits. They therefore are largely dependent upon their neighbours for the quantity of flour they consume; and even Tasmania, in spite of the productiveness of her rich agricultural land, is in a similar position, for in that colony the business of agriculture has largely given place to that of stock raising. In South Australia and Victoria, on the other hand, the production of wheat is much larger than the local consumption, and from these the short-producing colonies have hitherto derived their supplies; nay, more, they have even aspired to meet the wants of the people of England, and duriug the last few years have chipped many thousand bushels to the home market. So far as they are concerned, therefore, India, whose trade has been so eagerly looked for, has suddenly appeared in the character of a powerful and dangerous competitor. To Victoria the result is not so important as to South Australia, for although she is a large wheat producer she is not so dependent upon that industry as is the sister colony. She has many industries and she is prosperous, while South Australia has few and her future seems to depend as largely as her past upon the successful cultivation of her wheat lands. Besides this, her finances are in a lamentable condition, and the business of the colony is in a most deEressed state. It will be of interest to inquire ow this new development of commerce will affect her, for we cannot ignore the fact that one colony of the group cannot meet with a Beries of commercial disasters without more or less serious consequences to the whole. The success of the Indian venture seems to mean the destruction of the wheat industry in South Australia ; for, although by a repressive tariff Indian grain may be excluded from their own territories, the two will have to meet as competitors in an open market elsewhere. Everything depends upon the price at which Indian wheat may be landed in the colonies and its suitableness as a flour-producing grain. As to price, it is said that the Indian wheat can be put upon the market at 3s per bushel, while Adelaide quotations ]ust now are 4s 8d f.o.b. at Adelaide, and 4s lOd f.o.b. at Port Augusta ; 80 far as price is concerned, if these quotations are correct, the farmers' price will have to be cut clown to an extemely low rate to enable the Adelaide miller to compete with the Indian trader. It jfe urged, however, that the Indian grain is of a peculiar character and requires an admixture of other kinds to produce a marketable flour such as is required here ; but ■even if this be so, all that it means is that the competition will not be absolutely but only partially disastrous— a poor consolation surely.

So far as India's capacity for supplying Australian demands is concerned, it is qnito unnessary to go into detail. She has an immense territory, and as railways are pushed into the interior thousands of acres of new wheat lands are brought within reach of the coast; the soil is productive and labour is extremely cheap ; and, in short, India is the great competitor whose operations checked the increase of wheat culture iv the United States and marked the limits beyond which it ceased to be profitable. It is no novice that is offering us this trade, but one of the giants amongst wheat-growing countries.

What this competition means to South Aus- ! tralia may be indicated to some exfceat hy her statistics. In 1875-6 the area under wheat was 898,820 acres ; the return was 10,739,834 bushels ; the average yield per acre, 11 bushels 571b ; average price, 5s per bushel ; shipments of breadstuffs, 218,932 tons, valued at £1,988,716. That is the record of an exceptionally good year, for the yield since then has only once come at all .' to near that of 1875-6; that was four years ! later, when the crop was 9 bushels 471b per acre, but the price was only 4s sd. In spite of every obstacle, however, the cultivation of wheat lands continued to increase steadily, and in 1884-5 1,942,453 acres produced 14,621,755 bushels— an average of 7 bushels 321b per acre. We have not the price and shipments for that year, but in 1883-4, when, with a lower area, the crop was a few thousand bushels greater, the price was 33 9d, and shipments of breadstuffs were 328,873 tons, valued at £2,491,896. The value of wool exported in the same year was £2,616,626, and that of copper and copper ore £469,231, while the total value of exports was £6,623,804. It will be seen, therefore, that the exports of breadstuffs for the year was only a little less than that of wool, but greater than that of wool and copper combined if the wools grown in other colonies and valued at £793,000 be deducted. It amounts, moreover, to considerably more than a third of the total exports. To a colony that is already struggling against such pecuniary difficulties as those in which South Australia is involved, and that has suffered so heavily of late years from bad seasons and low prices, Indian competition threatens consequences that under the most favourable combination of circumstances cannot^fail to operate most prejudicially, and situated as she is at present may prove disastrous in the extreme ; for her difficulties are already greater than her statesmen are able to cope with, and in spite of relief works that are being carried on for the purpose of giving employment to those who can get no other work, hundreds of labourers continue to emigrate to other colonies where there is a greater demand for their services. If, then, the development of an Indian trade is a good thing for Australia, by one of the colonies at least it can be regarded only with the gravest apprehension. — The Farmers' Circular.