THE WHEAT YIELD.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 March 1916, Page 4

T HE WHEAT YIELD.

WILL BE SUFFICIENT FOR ■ REQUIREMENTS. (From Our Ow« Correspondent.)' Wellington, March 10. Some preliminary returns from the wheat growing districts were announced by the Prime Minister yesterday. Mr. Massey said that the figures placed before him, compiled from the threshing returns already available, showed the average yields in Canterbury had been as follows:—North of the Waimakariri river, 21.16 bushels; between the Waiinakariri river and the Rakaia river, "15.38 bushels: Ashburton County, 19.82 bushels; South Canterbury, "22.3 bushels; Waitaki, 14.27 bushels. "These are the returns from the chief wheat-growing districts of the Dominion," said the Prime Minister. "I may be permitted to quote in this connection what I said-on January 19 last, after I had travelled two hundred miles through the wheat areas to form my own idea of the probable yield: 'My opinion at present is that the yield this year will not average more than 2# bushels per acre.' I believed the# that th ii Canterbury average woulw be under 20 bushels, and that the average outside Canterbury would be over 20 bushels. The returns as far as they have gone show that I was approxiniii trly correct. ''The figures show also that there is suHicient wheat in the country for our requirements. I may state now in this connection that some time ago I sold tiie wheat we were holding in Canada. That was the balance of the million bushels over whieli the Government secured an option at the time of the shortage last year. I got a fair price for the wheat. The loss on the transaction was not great. The possession of the wheat for a period was worth more to the Dominion than anything we have lost."