The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 1888. THE PRICE OF WHEAT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1707, 6 March 1888, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 1888. THE PRICE OF WHEAT.

Sheep, according to Mr Eolleston, have taken into consideration our distressed condition, and have been lately growing more wool on their backs in order to help us out of our difficulties. The clerk of the weather, prompted probably by a similar feeling, has this year been very kind to us also, and we should be able to make a little headway only for the low price of grain. v Contrary to expectations, the price of wheat promises to be very low, and consequently, excellent and abundant as our harvest is, its effects will not be felt. We have been altogether disappointed in this, but, though we say it with reluctance, we are afraid the day for big prices is passed. Chambers’ Journal has recently published an article on the price of wheat. It has traced its history from the Repeal of the Corn Laws to the present time, and shows the causes which have operated in bringing it to its present level. Prosperity succeeded the repeal of the Corn Laws, and consequently the rents payable by farmers rose to double and sometimes treble what they were before, but the opening of England’s ports induced the Americana to go in more extensively for grain growing. The area under grain in America increased from 19,000,000 acres in 1870 to 38,000,000 in 1880. The Australian colonies and India also commenced to pour their cargoes of wheat into the English market, with the result that the price came down while the rents remained as they were. This has had the effect of ruining a great many English farmers. More recently still rents have gone down and wages have been lowered, but yet the price is too low to pay. It appears also that it does not pay the Americans, for their production of wheat has decreased, and we know very well that Australians do not find it as satisfactory as they would wish. There is only one country which has not experienced the fall in prices and that is India. The explanation of this is that the metallic currency of India is silver, and the price of that metal has fallen 30 per cent, during the last 12 years. Thus, though the price of wheat has fallen, the Indian seller of wheat does not feel it because the fall in the price of silver equalises matters. In order to understand this it is necessary to know that silver is not money in England. There are of course silver coins, but they are not the standard of value, and consequently in commercial transactions between England and India silver is regarded as an article of merchandise sold by the ounce. Silver is now 30 per cent, cheaper than it was 12 years ago, but being the standard of value and the currency or India it is as valuable now as ever it was in that country. Thus the quantity of silver which India could buy in England 12 years ago for £IOO she can got at present for £7O, aud this makes up for the decline in the price of wheat. There is another agency at work which has made India a successful rival in wheat growing. The country has lately been opened up by railways, and greater facility is given to the interior to communicate with the coast. These , agencies, together with cheap labor, render India master of the situation as regards wheat production, and it is consequently very likely that the price of grain will not go up. This is the substance of the article in Chambers’ Journal, and we believe it is pretty correct. Ihe conclusion arrived at is that over production of wheat, consequent on the recent advantages acquired by India, is the cause of the low prices, but from this we differ. There cannot be over production until every one who wants wheat has had enough of it. Millions are starving, and therefore there is no such thing as over production. As we have frequently pointed out the rage for cheapness is the cause of the whole trouble. Iu the race of competition for cheapness, wages have sunk below the level at which the laborer can secure the necessaries of life for his family, and the result is they have to do without: them. Of course, if the laborer has to do without many articles he requires the seller of them have to do without customers, aud thus the goods remain on his hands, and this is called over production. There ia a remedy for all this. Let the hours of labor be reduced from 12 to 8 all over the world and let the wages of the working man be increased, and it will be found that what appears over production will soon vanish. To do this employers of labor would have only to charge a little more for their goods, but to do so would diffuse much happiness and comfort amongst the poor, while the rich would be just as well off as ever.