The Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. FRIDAY, MARCH. 5. 1886. PRODUCE PRICES AT HOME.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1650, 5 March 1886, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. FRIDAY, MARCH. 5. 1886. PRODUCE PRICES AT HOME.

* -Writing on this subject tic&cAgricultural Gazette, of date January 4, of this year, gives paper space to the following comments :■. — " English wheat averaged, m the last whole week of 1885, 31s 5d a quarter. During the same week it' had'j been 395, 40s lid, and 44s 3d m the three previous years. There has been a , uniform fall m price tor years ; and of j the end no sign yet appears. iA Norfolk correspondent tells us :— "Lasfc.Wednes- 1 day (and ours is a first rate market) I saw capital red wheat 18 stone (per sack) sold for 14s 3d, or 28s .6d per quarter. On the same day I sold black oats at 11s of 12 Btones, and barley at 17s 9d for 16 stones." Theend, if it. js; riot to be utter ruin, must m fact be sought by altering practice. If wheat cannot command a profitable -pricey we must cease to grow it. And that is what we » re . doing. We hear -everywhere that the area sown- this year with wheat is' unprecedently low. .And^. as long as it is cheaper m the market than black oats, for equal weights, that is not to . be wondered at. There seems,,. indeed, tape plenty m the land of most* things. And yet we . are not happy. Hereis the Registrar-General at Dublin publishing the returns.:of Irish agriculture for 1885 m glowing; terms." All crops show an increased average rate of produce. The increase m the money value of the crops amount m <the aggreri gate to ,£1,694,223, as* compared , with 1884; but somehow Irish farmers also are complaining. — The fall m price is as disastrous m the meat market as on the corn exchange; and the fall , m cheese and butter has at length given, dairy farmers also their share m the general agricultural depression. The competition of imported with the homegrown produce of all these kinds is disheartening us all. The American Commissioner j of Agriculture, Mr Colma<n;: is, how- 1 erer, we are told,'o£ opinion that the | beef-eaters of his country will ere long, outstrip the beef-producers, and; tljat there} and therefore also here, -prices must eventually rise" r ? [ i § sj I j