The Premier at Shannon.

Feilding Star, Volume XV, Issue 246, 26 February 1894, Page 2

The Premier at Shannon.

The Premier ou arrival at Shannon ou Friday afternoon was met by Messrs Gascoigne, Stuckey, Nation and a number of the other leading settlers. The Premier addressed a small meeting in the evening, and on the question of intercolonial reciprocity said : — ln going through last year's returns of imports from and exports to the various other Australian colonies and comparing them with similar returns for former years he found that (excluding the figures relating to gold and specie) there Ay as a balIttiicc o.f trade auion»ti»u to i#ttiMXX> in favour of New South Wales and Victoria. Coal, for instance, to the value of •t'loß,ooo had been imported iuto New Zealand last year from New South Wales and refined sugar from Australia to the value af .4*90,000, while ou fruit alone some i' 15,000 worth had been imported. At the same time there had been a considerable shrinkage iv the value and volume of our exports to the other colonies. This was the effect of the working of the new fiscal tariffs imposed in the sister colonies. Formerly, Njw Zealand used to export'far more large'y to these uther colonies, and from New South Wales coal used to be brought as back freight. Now, the balance of trade was ( largely against us. Of timber alone last ■ year we imported over £23,000 worth. All this was matter for earnest reflection ' md showed the necessity for some method of adjustment. J