Rangitikei Advocate. TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1910. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9652, 4 January 1910, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1910. EDITORIAL NOTES.

DURING the last three or four years there has been a vary great drop in the production of wheat although fchsra have been more mouths to fill, and consequently there has been a considerable rise in pnoa. In 1906 the crop of tho world raaooed tiha maximum with 441 million quarters, but in the nest year tho crop fell to 394 million, and. in 1908 to 391 million. Certain authorities long ago predicted there must soon be a serious shortage of wheat as population increased and the new lauds which were particularly suitable for the production of this cereal became exhaussd by careless methods cf farming. In view of this assertion it ia of some interest to oanisder a few figures with regard to the wheat crop cf the British Bmpire-to attempt to deal with that of the whole world would require far mure space than is at our disposal and would introduce a mass of figures which would be too complicated fox the general leader. As a preliminary we may state that in the purely white portion of the British Empire the consumption por head is about six bushels par an if. urn, and that something like two bushels per acre Is required for seed. The population of Britain, Canada ana Australasia is roughly 56 millions, so that 43 million quarters are required for food and probably about 4 million quarters for seed, Tho actual production of these countries in 1905 was Britain 7 miiJion qnarexs, Canada million, and Australasia H/2 million, making a toml of 34 million quarters. Bast year the figures were Britain million quarters, Canada 21 mil'iion, and Australasia 9 million, Braking a total of 37>8 million quarters. The yield per acre in the three. portions of the Empire is very different. In Britain last year to the acre, in Canada 21.73] bushels, Australia 5.29 bushels, Zealand 34.75 bushels. The New! Zealand crop last year was only a) million quarters, so the splendid/yield is evidently due to the facts that it was a good season and thafi only tho bast laml is used for wheat. Last year there was a small surplus for export, bat in recent years not enough has been grown to supply the Dominion. New Zealand can therefore hardly be considered as a factor of any importance in the wheat supply of the Empire. Canada can and will increase her production and her export, but the surplus for export increases slowly, as every thousand acres newly sown down in wheat requires a considerable in crease in population, not only to cultivate the land but to transport the grain and to provide all necessaries for the workers. Population is in fact always tending to catch up to the supply of wheat, a state of affairs which has already [taken place in the United States. If the production per acre in Australia could be brought up to the Canadian standard the outlook would be much more hopeful, because at present in New South Wales and Victoria it requires more than one acre to produce enough wheat to supply one person. No sudden change, however, is likely to takej’plaoe in Australian agricultural methods and it is fairly safe to predict that for the next few years wheat will remain at a high price. It also seems probable that the price of the staple grain mast rise in the future though the fluctuations will still be such as to cause as much annoyance to growers as in the pest.