We think it is almost certain that the calculations of
Messrs. Read and Pell, the Assistant-Commissioners to the Agricultural Commission, concerning the cost at which wheat from the Red River, Canada, and the United States can be laid down in Liver- pool, is much too high. Mr. S. Williamson (M.P. for St. Andrew's District), who has had even ampler means than the Agri- cultural Commissioners of estimating the cost of production in some of the best wheat-growing regions of the New World, writes to Tuesday's Times that a great deal of wheat can be laid down in Liverpool, all charges paid, for something like 328. Bd. per quarter of 480 lb. If any large quantity of wheat can be imported at such prices as this, it seems certain that wheat-growing in England will be pursued on a rapidly-dwind- ling scale, and wheat land turned to account in other ways. Even land-which is farmed by the owner, and which, therefore, need yield no rent., could hardly produce wheat so as to secure fair business profits to the farmer, if it had to compete against really large quantities of imported wheat at such prices as this. The English farmer will need all the aid that the most absolute freedom from restrictive conditions can give him, for many years to come, if he is to stand his ground against the virgin soils of the West.
Previous page
