The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. MONDAY, APRIL 7, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 928, 7 April 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. MONDAY, APRIL 7, 1879.

Tms Colony haai no compeer in the growth of grain. All things considered, wc hold th* vantage* ground in the grain market ! against th«r world. But the grain growers I of the Colony have lost heart. They go | about like men who have no hope beyond the grow—as men who only realise the 1 present, and fail to- seek satisfactory coni elusions in studying the signs of the times. 1 Truer, everything- has conspired against ; then* this season, and grain has dropped ; in price a shilling per bushel. Bat. if growers would only look intently they | would descry a glimmer of light already : breaking through the gloom. They have no reason to view the present unfavorable condition of the grain market a* more than transitory. Let them look over the water; there they will see causes, for 'gloominess in the growers of Australia | that should cause their own faces to | assume their norma! breadth. Australia ia i parched up, this feeing the fag end of a three years' drought. This year's crop*, : already poor, have been decimated by tires and red rust, and the rainfall this year having been only one-fourth of what it usually is, there are but poor grounds to hope that next year matters will look '. any brighter. Neither have oar farmers, 'usually so fortunate, fared so well this season. Scorching and high winds have reduced the yield to far betow the average. On the principle of supply and demand, we have a right to. assume that all this must increase prices, as surety as it ha* reduced the supply. Prices have been unreasonably low ftp to. the present time in the Colonial markets. They were fixed by buyers with the idea that sellers could not do> better than accept their offers, which they professed were baaed upon the prices that could be realised by : shipping to London. But such is not the case. Those who have purchased wheat at the low prices that have been ruling could now realise ninepence per bushel advance in London, after defraying cost of carriage, and, by holding on to their stocks till later in the season, they would make additional prnftt. We are not surprised that farmers are shipping on their own account. Wheat cannot be grown profitably at less than 'ls per bushel, and chat is the price that growers should have realised here for good samples, if the London market price tiad been accepted as the standard. It is bound to come to. this and go beyond it before nest year. There is not a plethora of wheat in the Colonial markets. The shipments which have been, and are being, made Home, are relieving the markets of New Zealand's foreign export share, and wilt enable fair prices to be realised for that remaining. the principal portion of which wilt be used for local consumption. There can bo no doubt of the truth of what we now assert. Everything points to it ; and buyers have been- securing alt that offered at the tow rates that have ruled. ifere are some curious facts showing the effects of prolonged drought r In Australia, in 133y, wheat realised the extraordinary price of 25« per bushel, and, in the same year a mixture of flour and ground rice was si-dd in the market square. Melbourne, at LSO per ton, the limit for one person being one 301b. bag, whilst heads of families were allowed two. Sioticitous as we ace that good prices ■ should be realised for grain, we would be sorry to See a repetition of such famine prices as the foregoing, which do nobody 'good. Nor do we ever espect, in these days of perfect intercommunication by water, to see anything approaching such prices again realised. We merely cite these instances to *how tile effect that droughts, producing scarcity, have upon the wheat market, and think that they shoutd make us grateful that we are not visited by the droughts of Australia, which are as great an enemy to grain as a locust plagu*. The magnificent soil and climate of this Colony combined enable our grain growers to compete with alt comers. From the time that the plough is put into the ground till the produce is brought into market, or placed on board : vessels for export, wheat can be grown as cheaply here as in any other part of the world. Then, as it is the cost of produc- , tion that must govern prices under ordinary conditions', as surely as water finds its own level, and, as our prices will be ! affected by those of other countries, our \ position will be rather more advantageous I than that of oar neighbors. We would I not fee surprised if the unusually small ! yield in New Zealand, the rust and tires in Victoria, the meagre yield in South jAu3tralM^eavingl3o' > 6ot>tn*teadofl > s<;>,WO i ton* available for export), and the pro- ■ tracted drought in Australia, were to have '. the effect of raising the price of wheat to. 5s or 6* per bushel nest year. The : prices at present ruling for wheat in this \ market may fee viewed as having been : .fixed ob a flimsy basis. It is anomalous [ that wheat should few 5s Sd in London and ''>■ only 3* 3d here ; because, if we reckon all charges from the railway ihed to London, we shall discover that the prise should now fee- 4s here;. Again, wheat is now 4s to 4» od in California, and the expense of sending it to this Colony would, with interest, freight, &«.» make the rates, landed here, from 5s to 5s «d. It is plain, therefore, that we have feat little to fear from that sowre*, So far as the Colonial markets are concerned, and even in the ultimate markets of the world, wc shall alway* fee able t& hold our own. Californiaa wheat is brought here more for the purpose" of mixing than to compete with our grain, it* hard, flinty nature rwulvring it suitable for mixing with oar moist grain* and* i*» importation has not the alishi«st dfiicfc upon our price. Oarfarmers

should be careful not to sell their grain below s price that trill pay them a fair profit for their labor—there is no necessity for doing bo, unless on account of financial pressure—and take care to grow their usual quantity next year, in reasonable expectation of being able to make up for what they hare lost thi» year.