The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 1887. OUR EXPORTS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1469, 29 January 1887, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 1887. OUR EXPORTS.

~ .It is to be regretted that the elaborat ). statistics of the Colony annuall furnished by that painstaking office the Registrar-General, cannot b brought up a little more nearly to dat< as much of their value is lost by reaso of the late period at which they corn to hand. Those for 1885, for instana were not received till close on the en of 1 886, and it is much to be desired tha . an effort should be made to suppl ascertained results alittlemore promptlj Even at ihis late period, however, th information supplied by Mr Brown i 3, well worth noting, and not least m cor nection with the facts disclosed ii , B relation to the expels of the colony l 6 The total value o( these for the yea 1885 is shown to have been £6,8 19,935 L as against £7,091,697 m 1884, decrease of £271,728. Of the tota exports for 1885, ,£6,591,911 consists I of produce and manufactures of thi n colony, the produce of mining industrie Jf amounting to £953,623/ that of thi 0 fisheries to £11,245, an( * 'hat °f thi >- forest to £468,051. Animals and thei [( produce yielded exports of the value o « £4> 2 7 I >BB4, including wool of thi ■J valve of £3,205,275, and frozen mea a of the value of £373,857 ; the export: .3 of agricultural products amounted t« a £668,727, and the exports of variou manufactures and miscellaneous article amounted together to .£218,381. Ii ° reference to the exports of pastoral am 1 agricultural produce, the Registrar 3 General gives the following interestinj * particulars. r " Wool —Although the value of thi ? wool exports was less by £62,252 h l 1885 than m 1884, yet the quantity ex t ported increased during the year b) 'I 5,368,403, viz, from 81,139,028 t< 8 86,507,4311 b. Had the prices receivec j for wool ten years ago been maintained I the value of the wool export foi . 1885 would have been greater b] r about £1,700,000. ] Wheat and Oats.— The export 0 wheat m 1885 amounted to 1,359,11 c ] bushels against 2,706,775 bushels it a 1884, being a decrease of 1,347,656 f or at the rate of nearly 50 per cent I . . . . . owing to th< 5 diminished production m consequent • of the low prices of wheat m th< ' English market. The exports of oat! 3 were greater m 1885 than m any formei 6 year; the number of bushels wai . 2,817,000, being an increase on th< » number exported m 1884 of 34*2,369 \ bushels. The value of these export ir \ 1885 was, however, less by £6,891 » than that of the smaller exports m 1884, \ Frozen Meat. — These exports were s considerably greater, both m quantitj 1 and value, than the similar exports 01 \ 1884, although the results for the whole [ year of 1885 did not realise the expecI tations that may have beeu raised t from the rate of increase shown during ; the first two quarters, m consequence, no ' doubt, of the low prices realised m the London market during part of the year, The following were the values of these exports for the past four years :•— IBB2, £i 9.339; 1883, £118,328; 1884, j 1885, £373,857Butler and Cheese. — These exports exhibited a considerable and very satisfartoty development during the year. The amount of butter exported increased from is,766cwtto 24,923™^, and the value increased from £66,593 to £102,387; while the amount of cheese exported increased from 10,342 cwt to i5,245cwt and the value increased from £25,074 to £35,742. The value of exports per head of the mean population is, however, shown to have steadily declined during the three years 1883-85, the figures being* per head: 1883, £13 8s 2d ; 1884, £12 16s 8d , 1885, £12 is 4^d ; while as compared with 1875 there is a still larger decrease, the figures for that sear5 ear being £16 4s 9%[d per head of mean population. This, however, is clearly shown by the statistics to have been due not to a falling off m the volume of the exports (which has on the contrary largely increased) but to a decrease m the market values of our staple productions. Thus it is shown that " while the wool export has increased 59 per cent, on the amount m 1875, the value has decreased 40 per cent. The grain export has also largely increased, but the value has decreased ; that of wheat having increased 147 per cent, m quantity, while the value has decreased 36 per cent., and the export of oats m 1885 was 346 per cent, greater than that m 1875, while | the value per bushel was 37 per cent, less." The effect of these differences m values (says Mr Brown) may be stated thus ; •' If an equal price had been obtained m 1885 for the wool, wheat, and oats exported to that obtained m 1875, the vsjjue of the total exports m 1885 would have been greater by equivalent to £4 68 per head of the mean popular

ion. Estimated on this basis, the value of the exports would have been 2s 7d per head more m 1885 than m 1875, instead of the actual result of £ 4 3 3 53 per head less." On the whole, then it is abundantly evident that the colony is making steady progress as regards the volume of its productions, and it is earnestly to be hoped that we shall soon witness an improved state of the markets which will carry with it a return of the prosperity which should be the natural accompaniment of that progress.