Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 1905. INSTRUCTIVE FIGURES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 3529, 1 June 1905, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 1905. INSTRUCTIVE FIGURES.

I Figures, generally speaking, do not form the moat entertaining mailer to thd Average keadsr i ‘hbt they are often the only real mednS of arriving id si correct estimate of things. We are frequently told by politicians oi one “colour” that this colony has made great strides in prosperity during the past decade, and this most people who pause a moment to look calmly at indications patent on every hand will admit; yet there are those who maintain that “ the country is gniilg to the dogs ” as fast as maladministration can drive it. With these pessimists we entirely disagree, though allowing that there are many instances in which the powers that be do not perhaps act in the best interests of the coloirsts at large. That, however, is beside the point for the present. From a leaflet just issued by the RegistrarGeneral we take a series of totals prepared for the two years 1894 and 1904 which cannot foil to impress on the careful student of statistics the fact that New Zealand has enjoyed a very marked degree of prosperity. In the following list are given four sets of figure; for each item mentioned, the first being fur the year 1894, the second for 1904, the third showing the numerical increase and the fourth the centesimal increase for the decade. Popuhtion (excluding Maoris and residents of the Cook and other Pacific Islands), 686,128, 873,539, 171,411, 24.98; number of occupied holdings, 46,676, 68,680, 22,004, 47.14 ; acres of land in cultivation (including grasses), 10,128,076, 13,868,074, 3,739,* 998, 36.93; number of live stock, I horses, 237,418, 314,322, 76,904, 32.39 ; cattle, 964,034, 1,736,850, 772,816, 80.16; postal money orders issued, £77 fi ,7‘ s 3, £M7MB7. £700,104, 90.13 ; miles of Government railways open for traffic, 1,993, 2,374, 3SI, 19,12; railway receipts, £1,150,852, £2,209,231, £1,058,379, 91.96 ; shipping, inward tonnage, 631,100. 1,154,569, 523,469, 52.95; outward tonnage, 631,250, 1,144,764, 513,514, 81.35; New Zealand produce exported, quantities and values, wool, 144,295,1541 b (£4,827,016), j 44.647,3761b (£4,673,826), 332,2321 b (£is3> l 9o)> 0-24 (3- 1 ?); grain, 2,434, 294 bushels (£226,183), 3,775,604 bushels (£392,250), 1,341,309 bushels (£166,067), 55.1 (73-42); frozen meat. r,025,243cvvt (£1,194,545), i,gi2,979cwt (£2,793-599). 887,736 cwt (£1,599,054), 83.59 (133.86); butter, 60,771 cwt (£251,280), 314,360 cwt (£1,380,460), 253,589 cwt' (£1,129,180), 417.29 (449 .37); cheese, 55,655 cwt (£115,203), 84,526 cwt (£185,486), 28,871 cwt finre, 4,677 tons (£66,256), 26,936 tons (710,281), 22,259 tons (£644,025),475.92 (972.25); gold, --1,61402 (£887,865), 520,33302 (£1,987,501), 298,709 -z (£l, 099,636), 134.79 (123.85) ; kauri gum, 8,338 tons (£404,567), 9,203 tons (T5Ol, 817), 865 tons (£97,250), iu.37 (24.04) ; provisions, tallow, timber, etc., £1,112,233, £2,008,052, £895,819, 50.54. The .input of coal was, in tons, 719,546, 1,537,838, 818,292, 113.72. Bank deposits (average of four quarers) were, £13,927,2x7, £19,074,960, £5,147,743. 36.96; assets, £17,746,421, £20,893,096, £3,146,675, 17.73; liabilities, £14,930,791, £20,643,359, £5,712,568, 35.26. | Depositors in the Post Office and private savings banks, with the amounts to credit, were, 154,405 (£4,066,594), 297,569 (£8,839,307), 145.164, (£4,772,792.72 (117.36). Government life insurance policies in force, and amount insured (with bonuses), numbered, 32,907 (£9,232,543), 44,194 (£11,261,080), 11,287 (£2,028,537), 34.3 (21.97), The total value of exports of New Zealand produce in 1894 was £9,085,148, and in 1904 £14,633,372, showing an increase of £5,548,124, or 61.07 per cent. Imports were valued at £6,788,020 and £13,291,694 respectively, giving an increase of £6,503,674 or 95.82 per cent, and excesses of exports over imports of £2,297,128 and £1,341,578 respectively. The only items showing decreases were the value of wool (shown by an asterisk in the figures given above) and in the numbers of sheep in the numbers of sheep in the colony, wnictx were 20,230,829 in 1894 and 18,280,806 in 1904, a shrinkage of 1,950,023 or 9.63 per cent.