WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 12 March 1930, Page 7

WELLINGTON NEWS

TRADE RETURNS,

(Special Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, March 8. The trade returns of the Dominion for the month of January were not made available to the public through the Pi •ess till the morning of March 6 or five weeks after the close of the month, and the delay is somewhat remarkable in view of the fact that the British trade returns are made available in complete detail within a fortnight after the close of the month. It is time some protest was made by the business community over this unconscionible delay in giving to the public these most important figures. The duty of their compilation rests with the Customs Department and it is obvious that body has not sufficient man-power to deal with the matter or perhaps it is obliged to withhold the matter from the public until the Statistical department has mastered the details, but whatever the cause of the delay the department concerned requires a drastic shake up. With the returns for January we are in a position to deal with four months of the current produce season and the figures in the aggregate when compared with those of the corresponding month of the previous season are not merely disappointing but are disastrously significant. The exports for the four months to January 31 last fcotajled £16,302,137 as compared with £18,939,485 in the corresponding four months of 1928-29, a shrinkage of £2,687,349, of which £2,072,578 occurred in the month of January, the figures for that month being £6,377,833, against £8,449,931 in January, 1929, the shrinkage being equal to nearly 25 per cent. In the first three months of last year the exports were valued at £24,102,572, ami if the same ratio of shrinkage is shown in the export values in February and .March then the falling off in exports in the current or first quarter of 1930 will amount to over £4,800,000, which add to the shrinkage in the previous quarter £600,000 the deficit for the six mouths of the produce year to March 31 will amount to £5,"00,000. If prices' do not improve after this month which is quite unlikely, the deficit for the balance-of .the produce year will probably amount to a million or a million and a half,

so that for the year ended September 30, 1930, the reduction in export values will be over £6,030,000, which means that the income of the nation will he reduced that amount or, to put it in another way, we will as compared with last year have six million less to. spend. The turnover of the country will be reduced bv much more than the amount named for any reduction Of national income (not public revenue) is reflected perhaps four ol' five times oVOr in the course of transactions of the year. That the small farmer Inis to curtail his expenditure by £2OO per year results in the storekeeper in his town also spending £2OO less and on that account merchants of the storekeeper in their turn do £2OO less (business.

tt is necessary to point out in connection with the export figures that the returns have been affected by the fact that many wool growers are holding their clips, and if these had been marketed in the usual way the aggregate figures would have been larger, but at the same, time they would have made no material difference to the defiict. Another point that should be borne in mind is that of export values. For instance butter and cheese shipped in November and valued at then f. 0.1). prices would probable not have been sold in London until January, and the f.o.b. prices in November were much above the actual realisations in January, and so the same with December and subsequent shipments. So far only the exports have been dealt with and a consideration of the imports adds to the deficit. The imports for the four months ended January 31st last were valued at £16,634,195 as compared with £16,163,862 in the corresponding four months of the previous season, an increase of £470,533. Thus it will he seen that the national income from exports declined by £2,667,348, our merchants and importers incurred increased obligations to the extent of £470,533, so that in the four months under review we went to the bad by £3,200,000. The need for cutting down imports is apparent and the banks are to be commanded for taking early action to bring tin’s about. But a reduction in jnroorts will not end the trouble for we have a good deal else to do. A commodity bore and there may improve in price but the general trend - of values is downwards and there will he no stabilisation of prices, despite pools, marketing organisations and what not until the pre-war level of value is reached. That is what must he faced and we must realise that adjustments must follow on the decline in prices and therefore there p must a revision of the cost of production. Unemployment and distress will continue until we overcome the problem of readjustment of costs of production.