AGRICULTURAL SUPPLIES AND PRICES IN BRITAIN IN 1910.

Otago Witness, Issue 3003, 4 October 1911, Page 18

AGRICULTURAL SUPPLIES AND PRICES IN BRITAIN IN 1910.

The Board of Agriculture recently issued Part 111 of the Agricultural Statistics for 1910, the details given . being prices and supplies of corn, Jive stock, and other agricultural produce during the year mentioned. .In it Mr R. H. Rew gives a most interesting and instructive review of the year, and also some comparisons between the years of the decade 1891-1900 and those of 1901-1910. The information given (says the Mark Lane" Express! is worthy the attention of all interested in our food supplies. For instance, "it shows that the average yearly importation of wheat was larger by. 24,000,000cwts in 1901-10 than in 1891-1900, nearly seven-eighths of the increase coming from within the Empire. i The imports of flour from foreign countries decreased by nearly 6,000,000 cwt, while .. from British -Possessions there was an in- '' crease of 715,000 cwt. Taking wheat and flour together (expressing the latter in terms of grain), there was a decline in. ■ foreign imports of nearly s,ooo,ooocwts, and '' an increase of 2£ million owts of supplies from within the Empire. j The imports of beef increased from 9£lb ! to 151 b per head of population, the whole | increase coming from outside the Empire. i On the other hand, while imports of mutton from foreign countries increased from 31b to 4£lb per head, those from British Possessions increased from 51b to 6£lb per head.

| Tht supply of butter from foreign countries rose from 71b to. B£lb per head, and from British Possessions it increased frorii lib to just Over 21b per head. Of chee&e, the average foreign supply was in 1901-10 only ljjrlb per head, as compared with 31b . in the orevious decade, while from British Possessions it rose from 3 2-3'lb in 18911900 to 51b per head in 1901-10. —Prices in' 1910. Coming to prices in 1910, Mr Rew remarks .:—"The prices realised by the British farmer,for the produce of his land appear to bear in many cases little relation to the quantity which he produces in a particular I season. A short home harvest dees not j necessarily mean high prices, nor does a good crop always mean low ones. Broadly . speaking, the influence of the home crop , upon the market depends on the proportion ! which it bears to the average total sup- \ plies, or, m other words, to the imports j which compete, with it." The average ' price of wheat in 1910, as ascertained under the> Corn Returns Act, was 31s #d per quarter, being 5s 3d lower than in 1909 and j 4d lower than in 1308. but otherwise higher . than in any preceding year since 1898. ! In comparison with 1909, prices in 1910 j were steady, the highest weekly average . being 33s Bd, or lower by lis than was obtained in the previous year: The quantity of wheat returned as sold in the 190 scheduled towns was 3.073,000 quarters in 1910, as compared with 2,641,000 quarters in the previous year. The average price of barley for the year 1910 was 23s Id ptr quarter, being 3s 9d per quarter than in 1809, and the lowest recorded eiince 1904. The quantity returned as sold was 500,000 quarters (19 per cent.) more than in 1909. / The average price of oats for the year was 17s 4d per quarter, or the lowest since 1905. The total quantity returned as sold (791,000 quarters) was the smallest since 1901, and was 115,000 quarters less than in 1909 and 513,000 quarters less than in 1908. The average prices of bread per 41b loaf in different districts of Great Britain in each of the, years 1908-10 wm 5.98 d for the year, as against 6.22 d in 1909 and 6.87 d in 1908. The average price of fat cattJo for Great Britain in 1910 was 36s lid per live cwt, being Is 7d higher than in 1909, and 4s higher than in 1905 and 1906.

The Exporting Countries.

The Agricultural Statistics for 1910 (says the Weekly Times) indicate the increased grip taken by Australia on the British market in the meat trade. "Detailed examination of the figures for beef," states the report, "shows that in. 1910 the'" countries in the southern hemisphere were responsible for the increased supplies, Ar«rentina sending 691,0000 wt (16 per cent.) more than in 1909, Australia 469,000 cwt (114 per cent.) more, New Zealand 78,O0Ocwt (17 per cent.) more, and Uraguay 14,000 cwt (11 per cent.) more. On the other hand, consignments from the United States fell to only 477,0000 wt—a decline of 44 per cent." In mutton and lamb the Netherlands' contribution declined; the Argentina was about the same; Uraguay and New Zealand sent slightly larger quantities; "but the most striking change was in the receipts from Australia, which rose from 944,000 cwt to 1,525, OOOcwt,"