SIR HOWARD VINCENTTo ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he can give an approximate estimate of the acreage of the land suitable to wheat growing in the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, and the States of South Africa, and the average yield of bushels per acre.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain.) It is impossible to give any such estimate as the hon. Member asks for. From the statistical year book of Canada for 1902, it appears that the total acreage actually under wheat in that year was 3,740,007 acres, and the yield 93,569,450 bushels, or twenty-five bushels per acre. From the table printed on page 244 of the Return [Cd. 1616], recently issued by the Board of Agriculture it will be seen that the area under wheat in Australia in 1902 was 5,113,328 acres, the yield 4,817,372 quarters, or 7.54 bushels per acre. For South Africa there are no reliable figures available.