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Mataura Ensign, Volume 6, Issue 344, 1 April 1884, Page 5

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FFbom the 'San Fbancisco Merchant, L Febbuaby.] - Tnbugh our wheafegrowers have no - gyoiinda for 1 loud complaints of _ tha prices^ fey have 'obtained for such whea>:asthey have sold, rtfnV cereal yeaiv it has proved a disappointing one for,pur wheat shippers.- The.; wheat Shippers'of California are ndt the only - men in the business, who havp been, unfortunate. The Colonial shippers to Europe, have been equally suaerers. IVotif a circular issued by the New ZeaSnd/lioa^ Agency, for whi«h we are.indebted.to Mr Hugh CraigV agent of the Caliiornian branch Of tfa'tl-poinpany, of this City, we get a\sU£Cinc.t idea of the causes which have 'led . to low prices in Great Britain. ThW'jbircular says :—" Amongst the forc#»,at work in producing this result -were, the following,, viz: (a), the l abnorI mally heavy shipments reaching this country from .all quarters (the circular is d^ed London, and this reference is to the; tlnited Kingdom) j (6) the brilliant weather prevailing at. the height of the }3ngUsh harvest; (c) the faulty . condition in which much of the wheat grown in New Zealand came to hand ; (<£) the accumulation of supplies in Anoenca, atid (e) the conditions under which winter wheats have been sown, both* at.Home and on the Continent of Europe, The weekly imports of foreign' wheat into London during the year 1883 exceeded on several occasions the highest totals previously recorded; : Thus for the week ending June $j r they amounted to 146,200 quarters, 01•1,169,000 bushels ; and for the wee]* ended September 1, 151,000 ■ quarters, bushels." The cir-( cular then explains that «• the most im* portant| factor <_ amongst those above note4 was .the unexpectedly large arriTals f com India . and the Parisian Gulf, thefce sources of supply having developed'with; startling rapidity within iiye,y«>a,r§r(,., Ten. years ago the exporfc from!'lndia .did .not .exceed some 125,000 quarters' per annum ; in 1876 it bad reached (50,000 quarters; in ls7£7#is),oQo quarters, in 1880-81 nearly^ooo,ooo quarters, in 1881-82 nearly^ ?5,000,000 r. quarters, the total to*tfl&s;Bp' tieing estimated at some II 4^ftO^po.4 u^e^ e cost °^ Pco" dpotioJ^t^rft;i»(Cpnßiderably less than j 1 m l a^f tfart ofr thA world, and the! yield tlrofcjp already: ymucb in excess of native requirements, can without difficulty be laxp^-Mcreiisid. :':The great towbs!3^ ;: transport to^. the_ jeftbpard; but the /?a^t3ioritieß;hßTing Totedome alive to the , 4MrabiUty f of fpstefiug 'ther^r6wth of . - «ifslMtptiai columns pointed : Jf^'inw^dia^buld shortly .become : i t^^^^'^oriKii^rriyal«inv'purojpe „^ ■Agwr#e)w";,atti:- .sMj^ieKB '; iv?ouldv> have; to ':: :^Mfim^^ I&fijjfi ;fc "■ X^^r^ Q-len^, ;on; his ;^S|SlttsSSb^t:§W^' all reference; to V'^lj^K^pu^^fci^; the:._ acieage- m - ■ wtieatlWaias^ftr^eaaiihat of the.Um- -^ tfeOtates; and the surplus exported haa^cpdl^pop bushels. In 1882- --':"■ 99 Ifliie of iri)dia wheat estiA niated'at 32,000 bushels, apd: in the ■V. year 1883^34 Will be stiinargcr, with pros'iject by i 886-87 of Teaching &sQQfas&M>^^ 16,O(yo,OOp:jbushel8. The increased !consurnpjbi<jn of wheat in ' Jsurope;is hardly^keeping pace with the increase cf production in India and /. v alone. The extensive railway facii^^i n several wheat producing States and territories of this country /^stterid, while India, Sussia, and ' bave average crops, to press -pricesin. the! ITnited Kingdom, and' whenever Western Europe is &yor£d with a full crop, prices may \j^J;^Aa^n!iirii^ally-low jßgures.' If the iibove'facts/and estimates of the future «re correct, it becomes important for us , |n'th'is^ate to place more and more reiwice ev,eryLyear on other agricultural erpps than wheat.