The Ellesmere Guardian. SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1891. SOME ENGLISH GRAIN STATISTICS.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume X, Issue 914, 30 May 1891, Page 2

The Ellesmere Guardian. SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1891. SOME ENGLISH GRAIN STATISTICS.

The agricultural statistics for Great Britain will always be of interest to the New Zealand farmer, inasmuch as it is to the mother country he must mainly look for a market for bia crops, for some time to come at any rate. That this colony can hope to keep the market long is not to be expeoted. Freight must tell m the long run, and the only genuine prospect of high prices for the New Zealand farmer lies m. the development

of other colonial industries, and tbe springing up of a population large, enough to * consume the bulk of our agricultural produce. But that halcyon time is still m the very far future, and our farmers must be content to compete with countries considerably nearer their market than is this colony. The statistics for 1890, just published, are more than usually interesting. The total importation of wheat for that year was 3,023,710 tons, the main supply being derived from Russia, the United Statet> and British India, which countries between them supply no less than 2,288,409 tons. Australasia sends but 152,884 tons, but that is considerably more than the Argentine Republic sup* plies, and more than double the sappi> of Canada. Roumania is the only other country which sends more than these colonies, her export being set down at over 230,000 tonn. In quoting these figures, Bell' 8 Weekly Messenger draws | some interesting comparisons. Whereas ten years ago, the United Kingdom drew 63 per cent of its total wheat supply from the States, last year the percentage sank to 28. A corresponding change occurs m the Russian trade which hp>% mv risen from 7 per Qsnt m Ml iQ mi $ pt mi \mi jm t

Another carious faob is that the Au&-" tralasian export was practically the same m 1881 and m 1890, though m 1889 it fell considerably, being less than halt last year's total. During the ten years prices have sunk very materially. In 1881 the average price for the jear was 45b 4d. Last year it was 31s 9d. The lowest price was reached m 1889, when the average was but 29s 9d. The most marked difference was between the years 1883 and 1884, when prices fell from 41s 7d to 85s Bd. The largest quantity imported was 3,212,037 tons m 1882 ; the lowest, 2,365,308 tons m 1884. The home production for the same years has ranged from 9,227,059 quarters to 7,256,016 quarters, averaging about 8,200,000 quarters, or 1,757,140 tons. The average yield per acre for the year 1890-1 was with one exception, the highest for the last twenty-five years, being 30-65; bushels. The highest m that period was 32 bushels per acre m 1887-8; the lowest, 15-50 m 1879-80, which is, indeed, the lowest since 1»52. Taking the last forty years, the area under wheat has steadily declined. In 1852 it was 4,058,731 acres ; m 1890 2,478,677 acres. These figures do not speak hopefully for the English farmer. Although rants of all kinds have been lowered enormonsly during the last decade, the steady decrease of grain growing acreage conclusively proves that he cannot compete with the outside producer, at any profit to himself. That the Australasian farmer cannot profitably undersell the less distant markets is also manifest, and the deplorable fact remains that England has to rely for her breadstuff s on the crops of two foreign coun tries, Russia, and the United States.