HOW STATISTICS ARE MADE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 840, 11 June 1910, Page 8

HOW STATISTICS ARE MADE.

THREE SETS OF WOOL FIGURES. Three sets of wool export figures are ■published in New Zealand,',and each .. of the three is compiled on it different principle. The Government in its products leaflets gives in pounds weight the quantity of wool-shown on the Customs export returns, which merchants have ■ handed in during the month; . Messrs. Dalgety and Co., Ltd., com- , pile a statement showing the number of bales put on board ship at 'the different" jioi-ts ■of ■ tho Dominion during the month; and the "Trade Review" has its well-known table showing the number of bales of wool on board vessels which have cleared for oversea ports . during tho month. Each set of statis- '! ■ ' ■. tics deals with a different thing, and unanimity is not to be looked" for. In The Dominion recently reference ' was made to some criticismn recently passed by the "Manchester Guardian" on the wide divergency'between the ' ,monthly wool figures of Messrs. Dalgety and Co. and those of the Government. In response to inquiries as to how Messrs. Dalgety and Cq.'s figures were compiled, 'we have received the following reply from the firm's Christchurch office, which totals up the New Zealand, exports :— Dalgety's Method. . ' "... Our returns," :says the writer, "are supplied from information - compiled by the various offices of Dalgety dnd Co. The exports given represent shipments made from each port in any one month, irrespective of whether the'carrying'steamer lias sailed or not, and are shown in bales regardless of weight. The Government statistics are compiled after the departure of a steamer, and consequently their figures for any one month must necesi. sarily differ from ours, particularly if they do not take tho actual ■ bales," but base their totals on the equivalent of bales weighing 4001b. I have com- /. /. pared our figures with the "New Zealand .Trado Review's" for the past two years and portion of the third, and the comparison comes out as follows: — Dalgety aud "Trade Co. ■ Review." ''■■'■ ■ bales. bales. For- year .• ■■ • ending June 30, 436,941 443,050 ".' ... 1908. '■'■'■' '■'.. For year ending June 30, 491,757 .497,759 ,'■■ 1909! ' ' ■ For ten months ending April 30, 477,752 479,297 .': 1910. "Referring again r to the Government etatistics being based on 4001b'. weight to a bale, the average of 11,000 bales sold by us in'Christchurch during the past season was 3361b. only." ; . . The writer is in: error'in supposing that the Government use-the basis of 4001b. for converting their- poundsweight, figures into bales. The Govern- . ment's monthly, statistics do ,not show the number of bales, and the 4001b. basis was merely used in this journal for-the purpose of making a rough-and-ready comparison between the different sets of figures. ■ . In tho ten months ending April 30 last; .the Government., leaflets.showed.an export of 180,404,833 ■lb. of wool. At- 3361b. to a bale, this . -would give 539,895 bales, and at 400 . 451,012 'bales; Assuming the' - Government weights to correct, aid' the correct number of bales to be midway between the figures of Dalgety and Co. and the "Trade Review," the weight per bale would be;377lbs. An Unsatisfactory Basis. Of the three seta of statistics, those of the Government appear to be on the least satisfactory basis. The other '"■'• two both deal Iwith definite transactions which have actually taken place. One shows the wool put on board oversea ships at the different. ports, and the other shows -the wool which has left Now Zealand waters for oversea countries. The Government figures,, on the other hand, show only the entries which happen to be received by tho Customs during the month. Exporters are .supposed to hand these in within six days of fhe final clearance of any •vessel. They may, and sometimes do, , : hand their entries in as soon as their '.cargo is aboard, and, perhaps, in tho month before that in which the vessel finally- departs from New Zealand. Tho more common occurrence, however, is - -for the> entry to be' delayed considerably, and maybe to go in the mouth - after the actual departure of.the ship. One ship's cargo may thus appear in './■ three different months or more. At , last .year's Chambers of Commerce' Conference Mr. J: G. Harkness said that under the present six days' system it was not uncommon for merchants to. overlook putting in their entries for a month or two months I Statistics based -on the entries passed in during any one month cannot, therefore, be said to represent anything in particular. In connection with the above, the Government recently circularised the Chambers of Commerce in the Dominion inquiring whether they would bo in favour ,of a reduction of the time in which export entries must be put in. Auckland, Cbristchureh, Dunedin, Napier, Nelson, and Invcrcargill have replied against a reduction below six days.. Oamaru and Timaru consider ' that forty-eight' hours' time should be ample for putting through the entries. Wellington, the original mover in the matter, has not- yet replied. At the annual conference of tho Chambers of Commerce, held in Wellington in, April of last year, a resolution was carried that exporters bo compelled to put their ■ entriesVin within twenty-four hours of the clearance of any vessel.