H.^2B

6

thought to be in excess of any previous one. Russian crop advices were good, and cotton-cultiva-tion was rapidly extending in the Asiatic provinces under the paternal care of the Russian Government. In this connection I would like to refer to the position in Egypt as it appeared to the representatives of the International Cotton Federation when they visited that country recently. They found things in a far more healthy condition than they were a year ago. The cotton industryis going forward by leaps and bounds tinder the wise guidance of Lord Kitchener and Sir Reginald Wingate. It is proposed to ask the British Government to sanction a loan of £3,000,000, which will be spent in irrigation and railway-works in the Soudan. If the scheme goes through, the Gezira Plain —a vast stretch of country 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 acres in extent —will eventually, be rendered suitable for cotton-growing. It will take years to carry out this great scheme, but such an enormous yield of cotton may have an influence upon the future values of our staple output—namely, wool. Grain. 0 The latest published estimates of the wheat crop of the world trive the total for 1912 as set. out in the following, where comparison is given with previous years: 1910, 442,300,000 quarters of 4801b.; 1911, 432,300,000 quarters of 4801b.; 1912, 464,100,000 quarters of 4801b. hi the case of oats, the estimated totals for the given years are as follows : 1.910, 448,000,000 quarters of 3041b.; 1911. 413,800,000 quarters of 3041b.'; 1912, 498,600,000 quarters of 3041b. From these figures it will be noted that the world's crops for 1912 were very large. It must be borne in mind, however, that some very wet weather was experienced in Europe at the time of the harvest, and in consequence a good portion of the crop was rendered unfit for human consumption. The International Institute of Agriculture at Rome have recently published the following compiled figures : — The. Harvests of 1912—13 and 1911-12 in the Southern Hemisphere com pared. WHEAT. Harvest Arp-i , AorMl Production, in Bushels of Harvest Area (Acres). 60 , b Woigh( . * 1912-13. 1911-12. 1912-13. 1911-12. Argentine ... 15,566,513 15,518,250 176,400,000 147,751,333 Australia arid New Zealand 7,001,631 6,957,378 75,378,154 70,923,589 OATS. Bushels of 40 lb. Weight. Argentine 2,682,900 2,319,750 82,418,000 49,196,000 New Zealand ... 352,181 367,542 12,889,464 17,043,799 According to the same source the production of wheat and oats for the Northern Hemisphere in 1912, combined with the Southern Hemisphere figures for the harvest of 1912-13 given above, turns out as follows :— Total Production, Northern and Southern Hemispheres. WHEAT. 1912 and 1912-13 ... ... ... 3,252,174,178 bushels of 60 lb. 1911 and 191.1-12 ... ... ... 3,021,900,481 bushels of 601b. OATS. 1912 and 1912-13 ... ... ...- 3,300,813,216 bushels of 401b. 1911 and 1911-12 ... ... ... 2,738,326,990 bushels of 40 lb. Reason for Differences in Prices-. I append hereto an interesting table for the purpose of elucidating and stating the reason for the difference in the price of cereals in various centres :—

Thus, according to the compiler of the figures, the farmer in the Argentine would only receive 17s, 6d. per quarter for his wheat, as compared with 225, 7d. paid to the farmer in the United

Per Quartei of 8 Bushels. Price paid to Farmer. Transportation. Insurance. Storage, Haulingcharges, and Interest. Merchant's Price in profit and Liverpool Broker's or Commission. Antwerp. Rail. Ocean. Jnited States of America jidia ' 8. 22 19 17 19 d. 7 6 6 1 s. d. s. d. 3 0 2 0 4 0 4 0 6 0 4 0 5 0 3 0 d. 2 3 3 2 S. d. 1 3 0 9 1 3 0 9 s. d. s. d. 10 30 0 1 6 30 0 16 30 0 2 0 30 0 Argentine ilussia i