WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 8 June 1926, Page 4

WELLINGTON NEWS

SEVEN MONTH’S TRADE

(Special to “ Guardian.”)

WELLINGTON, June 4

The Monthly Abstract of Statistics for May gives the statistics of exports am! imports for April, and those show that the exports for that month amounted to £5,153,705, while for the corresponding month of last year the amount was £6,692,072; there was thus a shrinkage of £1,038,307, equal to over 20 per cent. The imports into New Zealand in April this year amounted to £3,850,090, which contrasts with £1,106.19 1. in April, 1925, a decrease of £316,398. The figures of a single month are not of much value, although they form some guide, it would therefore be better to take the seven months to the end of April, as October Ist is regarded as the beginning of the produce year, for the seven months the balance of trade shows considerable shrinkage. The exports for the period totalled £32. 1y9.053,1 y 9.053, and the imports to £31,701,468, the excess of exports over imports being £714,535. In the corresponding 7 months ol the previous year the exports totalled £41,070,530 and the imports amounted to £29,079,6(11. She excess of exports over imports being £11.390.800. This shows the great change that has come over the economic conditions of the country. The purchasing power of the community has dropped from £11.390,800 to £714,535, and this to a large extent accounts for the cry of the unemployed. For the seven months the exports show a shrinkage of £8.587,477, or over 20 per rent, as compared with the same period of the previous year, while the im-ports during the same period increased bv £2.084,804.

With respect to the imports it is encouraging to note that the April figures show a decrease ol £891,129, as compared with the preceding month of March, and a decrease of £310,398 compared with April last year. From this it would appear that a start has been made with the reduction ot imports, a movement long overdue, hut which should now receive a considerable impetus. For the first four months of 192(1 the imports amounted to £17,541.308 against £17,289,817 in the corresponding four months of 1925. the increase being only £251,551. Ihe principal increases are under the headings of miscellaneous ami other goods. The number of motor vehicles imported in the four months of this year was 9.012 as against 7,922 in Urn corresponding four months of last year, and the values were £1.554,511 against Cl. 500,4 79. EASTERN BUTTER. Is it possible or even possible for the East, and particularly China to become a competitor in the butter market!-' It is not beyond the hounds of probability, although a good deal must depend upon the energy and enterprise displayed by the Chinese, in the

‘■Economic Chinese Bulletin” for April, it is stated that there are five dairies in Canton, the Sheng Kee dairy being the oldest establishment. Although this dairy handles a large quantity of milk every day, supplying a large portion of the city’s demand, its business shows very slow improvement, because of the difficulty of buying and keeping cows of foreign breed. So buffaloes are being experimented with. The Department of Agriculture of the Canton Christian University has discovered that the buffaloes in South China yield very good milk, better than that of the imported cows in quality, though .not in quantity. An analysis made at the University shows that while the foreign cow’s milk yields 3.07 per cent, of butter fat, I lie buffalo’s milk yields 11.20 per cent. In addition to the superior quality of the milk, there are other adventages in keeping buffaloes for dairy purposes. For flic price of one foreign cow four or five buffaloes can he procured. Supposing eaeli buffalo yields nibs of milk a day, four will give 2 libs which is equal to the quantity produced by the average cow. Buffaloes are naturally adapted to the local climate, and furthermore they seldom contract any epidemic, and their rare and feeding is cheaper. The only shortcoming of the buffalo as a milk-producing animal is the small quantity of milk site gives. This is due to the fact that she has never been developed along the dairy line. This defect is not beyond romedv.