The Pahiatua Herald. with which is incorporated THE PAHIATUA STAR. Published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1894. THE PRICE OF WHEAT.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume II, Issue 208, 28 September 1894, Page 2

The Pahiatua Herald. with which is incorporated THE PAHIATUA STAR. Published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1894. THE PRICE OF WHEAT.

The outlook for wheat is a gloomy one indeed'; so much so, that we fear Hew Zealand, which has figured hitherto as an exporter of the cereal, will take to tho other side and become an importer. In fact this development lias already taken place, and it is probably on this account that it was seriously proposed to place an import duty oil wheat. We aro hardly sure whether corn duties would he tolerated, but of this much we are satisfied that any customs “barriers that may be raised around breadstuffs will help to line the pockets of corn factor* and middlemen, and will in no way be beneficial to the producer. The price of wheat has been steadily declining in recent years, with a tendency to the bedrock of prices current in the middle ages. In 220-1400 the price of wheat per quarter was 5s lOifd ; in 1400-1540, 5s 11-Jd ; in 1540-1582, 18s l(Hd ; in 1582-1702, 39s OJd; in 1702-1799, 40s 8d; in 1800-1820, 80s sd; in 1821-1880, 51s 2d ; and in 1880-1898, 34s Bd. The latest quotation cabled from London under date 23rd inst. gives the price as 235, which represent a fall of Is as compared with the quotations of a week ago. The crops of most of the wheat growing countries of the northern hemisphere can now be estimated with a certain amount of accuracy, and the yield in each case is superabundant for local requirements. The Prairie Farmer estimates the yield of the United States at 490,000,000 bushels. Frauoo has the biggest harvest recorded, the Minister of Agricuture placing it at 378,840,000 bushels, which is in excess of requirements, and France may this season beoonie an exporter. The whoat harvest of Russia is estimated at 270,000,000 bushels, which, although less than the bumper crop of last year, is sufficiently large to promise another heavy shipping season. India's crop for 1894 is estimated at 250,890,000 bushels. One writer says, “ The world nearly lost its head at tho magnitude of the Argentine crop. It is, at no far distant date, going to be astonished at the avalanche of wheat coining from the enormous reserves of India.” The Argentine Republic is a wheat-export-ing country, and especially as the crops come in very soon after the Australasian crops and have to find a market at the same time, the outlook there is a serious factor in the general position. An enormous quantity of wheat carried over from the last harvest still awaits shipment, there is a dearth of tonnage, and at the middle of June all available steamer space had been engaged up to the end of August. From the port of Rosario (the capital of tho Province of Santa I’e) alone no Ess than 98 vessels sailed in the month of .Tune with wheat cargoes aggregating 121 >,(>26 tons. The total imports of wheat into the United Kingdom for the first six months of 1891 were as follow ; Quarters. Russia 6,875,000 United States 6,576,000 Argentine 4,175,000 Australasia 992,000 India 953,000 Chili 175,000 Austria-Hungary ... 109,000 Total 19,855,000 Not only have the Argentines established themselves as growers and shippers, lint the soil and air are'evidently kindly, and the wheat of excellent milling character. What chance have the Australasian colonies against such competitors as India with its cheap coolie labour, and the Argentine with its almost limitless area of wheat growing oountry. The Buenos Ayres Standard of recent date says, “ Prodigious as is this wheat trade of Rosario, and the interest it has created, it is m fter all hut a mere cypher of what it is yet destined to reach. The fact now stands, and well it is known in { Italy, Spain and Switzerland that but 2 > •••par ite th< po >r< si iEuropean laborer from home, farm and competence. No wonder, theretoro, that the stream of European settlement is spreading in every direction in Santa 1 1 ' ; new colonies starting up at every point, and Lho furrows of the plough gangs stretch to such a length that when the gangs return they find the harvest ripening from the seed dropped on t heir first passing.” Cheapness of land is another great factor in tho Argentine; recently a line baronial estate, with six leagues front on the hanks of the Kio Negro by Lwo leagues depth, and splendid fertile wheat growing land, sold for less than a shilling per acre.. What colony in tho A u strain aan group can compete in the wheat market with a country possessing -c> many superior advantages ? The future of the wheat market re ts with the '.rgontino Ropublio and India.