The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. TUESDAY, MAY 19. 1896. THE STATE OF TRADE.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 269, 19 May 1896, Page 2

The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. TUESDAY, MAY 19. 1896. THE STATE OF TRADE.

Til : monthly issue of the New Zea■nnd Trade Review, published on the 1 4th instant, contains interesting remarks on the trade of the colony for the year ended 31st March last Imports of merchandise exceed those of the preceding year by £336,643, of which nearly £247,000 accrues at Aucljland, the respective totals for the colony being £6,182,228 for 1595---96, and £5,845,585 for 1594 95. The Gazette returns show a different result, owing to the large amount of specie imported by the banks in the earlier year, amounting to no less than £858,334, as against £174,350 in the latter twelvemonth. .But as this was imported to strengthen the banking position, it is necessary to eliminate it when considering the importation of ordinary merchandise. The Trade Review has compiled a return of the Customs revenue, and estimates the increase for the financial year at between £82,000 and £83,000. The most interesting portion of the Review, however, is that relating to our exports, which show for the year an incrpase in value of fully £500,000. The March quarter alone showed, in] deed, an increase of no lesj than £762,000, but this wafc, it appears, partly the result of delay in the despatch of cargo at the end of December, by which exports were unduly carried over to the January-March quarter. Taking, however, the figures from the •' Ist October to the 31st March — a j period which covers the bulk of the

wool season — our exports for the six months show an excess in value above the corresponding period of the previous season of over £606,000. The bulk of this increase, say £600,000, is explained in four lines, viz. : — Wool and sheepskins ... .£258,000 Gold 219,000 Meats, frozen and other 43,000 Grain and grain products 53,000 As to wool, the increase is entirely due to improved prices, as the quantity Shipped was slightly smaller, the amounts for the two seasons being as follows : — 1895-6 Weight Value Half-year 105,599,7471 b i' 3,503,744 Do 1894 5 106,648,7961 b £3,230,457 The average valuations for the two seasons were respectively 7 27d and 7-96 d per lb, an increase of about seven-tenths of a penny per lb. Nearly the whole of the increase is due to the improved market for wool, and to | gold. Butter and cheese show a fall- ! ing-off in both quantity and value. The Review gives the following interesting comparison of the respective rates of progress of the exports of the North Island and South Island, as shown in tiie statistics for the last four years : — Year. North Island. South Island. 1892-3 ... £3,971,413 £5,195,617 1893-4 ... 4,093,265 4,950,463 1894-5 ... 4,203,003 4,580,071 1895-6 ... 4,627,298 4.650.565 Beginning with a difference of over £1,200,000, there is now only a gap of £23,567, and if the South Island had not shown an increase in the latest year the North Island would have been the larger of the two. stmiaJianßaiaaaicaunt in —