AUSTRALIAN STAGNATION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 784, 6 April 1910, Page 10

AUSTRALIAN STAGNATION.

CROPS DECREASING,

The frequent complaints made in Netf Zealand of the slow increase in tho areas put under crop lend an interest to the following lett-er written to the' "Sydney Morning .Herald" by Captain A. AY. Pearse:- : • "Any student of the Government crop statistics of ,tho: different States of Australia can'but be staggered with the absolute stagnation during the last ten years in tie cultivation of crops. The ordinary man.in the street believes that vast increases have taken place, and';it. will come,as a surprise to him to hear that in Now South Wales alone last year there was less wheat under cultivation than in 1900, and less by 545,351-acres than in 1906. . It is the same with maize,' oats,. sugar-cane, vines, and potatoes; the only crop showing an increase being hay. Victoria makes ■ a worse showing in all her crops,, and in South Australia thero ■were 1,942,453 acres of-wheat in 1882, and in 190S only 1,693,501 ■ acres. There are two reasons for this stagnation, the first is the almpst impossible task to get labour; and .-the second is tho failure .of the Government to construct new rail-' ways and to run successfully those they have. The fact is farmers are up against a dead-end, and" very little progress can be expected until railway facilities are given them, and. labour, is, introduced. -State-owned- railways/ are responsible for the position. If-vast railway construction wero allowed, as in other countries, money and'labour'would be pouring into Australia, and. this magnificent country would.be.bounding ahead.instead of stagnating." ' •

. Captain. Pearse. as editor of the "Pastoralists' Eeviow" is a recognised authority on farming matters la Australia, but his remarks anent the Victorian crops-do not appear to be borne out so far as wheat is concerned. Just about the time he was. writing, the Melbourne "Argus" published, the following:— ■■■.- ' ''The Government Statist (Jfr.' A. M. Laughton) lias issued his official record of the Victorian wheat yield for' the season 1909-10. It discloses the interesting fact that the yield is the highest aggregate ever harvested in the State, but the average per acre has been exceeded on two previous occasions, namely, 1881 and 'IS 3 ; V - J' icld is S"" en as bein? 28,780,100 bushels, obtained from 2,097,162 acres an average of 13.72 bushels per acre. The previous highest wheat yield was~'in the season of 19034, when 28,527,579 bushels were harvested from 1,963,599 acres, giving an average 0fU.49 bushels per acre "