THE ENGLISH GRAIN MARKET.

Southland Times, Issue 1034, 7 October 1868, Page 2

THE ENGLISH GRAIN MARKET.

Farmers iv these colonies will be inter* ested in the following; intelligence with respect to the state ofthe English miarketIt is furnished by a London correspondent of the Sydney ' Herald/ and appears in a late issue of that journal :— The state of affairs is anything but reassuring. We are threatened with one of. those severe droughts with which the people of Heir South Wales are, unfortunately for themselves, but too familiar. This very week^ in anticipation of a defective hay crop, the price of linseed has begun to rise. The peas, too, are dying off for want of rain* while the wheat lands present a suspicious appearance. Tet, in the very face of these indications of danger, our journal* ists are sapiently uttering jub-uuit 6±* clamations over what appears, in their, , sight, to be the complete certainty of a plentiful harvest. It was the same last; year. Our leading journal congratulated us, in magnificent language, on our splendid harvest prospects, even at the very moment when experienced persona perceived how the last chance of safety had passed away, and how. our garners would, at the best, become but half filled. A deficient harvest this year will prove extremely serious. The defective harvests of 1866 and 1867 have all but emptied the great granaries, both here and on the continent; and unless these can be refilled this year, besides providing for immediate consumption, the price >* of wheat must inevitably rise toa point far higher than any attained since the repeal of the Corn Laws. The subjoined official statement of corn sold in 150 towns in England and Wales in the week ending 80th May, 1868, and the corresponding v week in the years 1864 to 1867* marker the steady increase which has taken place in prices: — 1864, 39s 5d per quarter; '65, 41s lid per quarter ; '66, 47s 5d per quarter; '67 65s 5d per quarter; '68, 72s 3d per quarter. These figures speak for themselves, and show howcritical wili become the position of our C food supply 'should the European wheat < ; yield prove i deficient, as-~-wnside-_ag the 1: accounts from Frahcls; Italy, and Germany ■^-there is to much re -son for believing will be the case. ; Nor 'must we look to the United States for supplies, - Telegrams received this merning persist in maintain- • . ing that all United States wheat will be required for American use. - 1 Perhaps these facts may lead to fresh attempts at-"'' exporting grain from the antipodes.