IMPERIAL WHEAT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2924, 30 March 1910, Page 8

IMPERIAL WHEAT.

I POSSIBILITIES OF AUSTRALASIA. (Fbom Oub Own Correspondent.) j LONDON. February 4. Mr Dnakard'e soheme for founding

'.' wheatrgrowing colonies" in West Australia has evoked considerable interest in London, and it is clear that Australasia; is destined in the future to be a very great wheat producer: The Morning Post says:—-" During the recent political .campaign a policy of tariff reform and Imperial preference, having as one of its main ideas the exclusively Imperial supply of Imperial food needs, was widely discussed, but doubt was expressed in some quarters as to the possibility of the Empkei being .able to grow its own wheat. The present enormous -wheat contribution of Canada was recognised as a fact, giving much strength to the tariff reform and Imperial preference policy, but it was thought by many that the limit had been .reached," or nearly reached, of Canada's productiveness, and that Canada was the only possible large contributor of corn to our home food supply. Both these ideas wete fallacious. The present Canadian production of wheat is great, but it does not represent one-half nor one-fourth of "the possible export supply. India is a growing source of supply. '" The exports of wheat from that country in 1896-7 represented a value of £557,597, and in 1905-6 a value of £5,689,600, and one year reached as high as £11,937,880 in value. The wheat reports from India are, however, somewhat irregular. Australia shows a steady advance in wheat production and wheat export to the United Kingdom- In 1901 there were exported to this country i 0,821,975 bushels of wheat from Australia; in 1907 the quantity had increased to 21,487,355 bushels. During the range of years there was only one (1903—a bad drought, year) in which the wheat- export to Great Britain fell to a very low level. The possibilities of Australia, 100, are only now beginning to be exploited. "West Australia is opening up wheat fields which give an average yield of 15 bushels to the acre (the Australian average is a little over 10 bushels to the acre). New South Wales is each year pushing the wheat belt out into country which Was once considered only suitable for the pasture of sheep. South Australia with new methods of culture finds v that good crops can be reaped on land which was before dubbed " desert." Victoria is bringing the " mallee" into cultivation, though it was looked upon not so long as;o as quite unproductive. With the widening of the wheat area in Australia so that it embraces the west as well/ as the east, not only is the total product increased, but the possibility of a sensational fall in the total vield through" a bad season is much lessened. The yield is at once greater and more stable. The entry of Australia into * the wheat pit as a great producer has two direct interests to the British public. It makes the Imperial food sunnlv more sure, and it opens up new possibilities for the emigrating Englishman. The dominant position of Canada as a source of supply of wheat will never be challenged by Australia, but tlhe certainty of a large supplementary supply from the latter country will be reassuring against fears either of scarcity or of an inewase in the orioe of bread if foreign wheat were discouraged from entering the British market. The multiplication of wheat farms in the great southern continent will, too, offer many new. careers for our young British men wishing for a larger life under the flag and should divert emigrants from America, where they are lost to/ the nation, to a land where they are as useful for the defence of the Empire as if they remained citizens of Great Britain.