The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5266, 8 February 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1878.

The fact that the value of the imports of New Zealand have exceeded the value of the exports has afforded a plausible argument for those who believe the colony is rushing into bankruptcy. Youthful politicians ; and political economists have pointed out the hollowness of our prosperity. Did not the relative value of exports and imports incontestably prove that colonists were living beyond their means, and that sooner or lator the day of reckoning would come, when it would be found that we would be placed on the wrong side of the ledger. When that time arrived, the great economic truth would be forced upon the people, that nations no more than individuals could live beyond their means. Frequently and solemnly the people of the colony have been warned of the impending crash. It was perfectly plain, we were told, that we were cither eating up our capital or running into debt. These were the only true inferences to be drawn. But fortunately for the peace of the colonial mind there is another country of considerable importance which has grown wealthy and maintained its credit in the faco of the fact that during the past twenty years its imports have , exceeded its exports ill even greater proportion than in New; Zealand. The following is the declared value of the imports and exports of the United Kingdom during the ten years 1860 to 1875 :

Now, according to tho balance of trade theory, the foregoing figures would pi-ove that Great Britain in ten years had lost in wealth over six hundred millions sterling. But the fact is, that the wealth of the British nation has increased enor-

mously during the period alluded to,,.The revenue has;also increased, notwithstand-; ing that the tendency of .legislation had been to lower duties. However,’ the best guide of all would bo tho sum assessed for an income tax. We republished -an article last Saturday from the London Times, from which we make the following extract: —“ In the year ended the sth of April, 1865, the gross amount of annual value assessed to income tax was 396 millions sterling, and in ]875 the corresponding amount was 571 millions. This is an increase of very nearly 44 per cent, in ten years, and shows with what rapid strides the country has progressed. In 1865, again, the amount charged to income tax, as distinguished from the gross, ■ annual value, was 349 millions sterling, while in 1875 the corresponding figures are 498 millions sterling, the increase being at the rate of 43 per cent. Taking into account the increase of exemptions and abatements from the income tax which has been a characteristic of our recent finance, we can well believe that the real increase of net income must have been more, and must hare exceeded the proportionate increase of gross income. That the net incomes chargeable to income tax, if the exemptions were the same now as in 1865, would considerably exceed 600 millions, there can be no doubt.” Some correspondence has recently taken place in England on the subject of the excess of imports over exports, one side contending that the people of Great Britain are “ eating their heads off,” whilst the other side are endeavoring to allay the apprehensions of those who fail to grasp the subject in its true hearing. We take the following from the Carlisle Patriot, an influential journal in the north of England “It was once thought tho consummation of statesmanship so to manage things that, at the end of the year’s trading, England had a balance of coin to draw from other nations. We have now come to look beyond the money to the realities which money represents—to tho utilities or commodities which afford support and comfort to man. And surely our position is a happy one if the world goes on, year after year, sending us those useful things in value exceeding by a full third those which we send out to the world. ‘No,’ says Mr. Rathbonb, in effect, ‘if the world sends us thirty in exchange for our twenty, wo lose ten by the transaction !’ But let Mr. Rathbone get out of generalisation, at which he is awkward. Lot him look at the books iii his own office. He sends out, say, to South America, a cargo of fancy cloths, valued at £SOOO, at which it is entered in the books of the Government officials. We will assume that the shipping charges, harbor and other dues, and Customs payments will add £IOOO to the cost by the time the cargo reaches its destination ; and we will furthor assume that Mr. Rathbonb makes £IOOO profit on the transaction. Ho therefore sells his fabrics for £7OOO. But, according to the usual course of trade, he does not bring back the money in his pocket. Ho buys South American goods to the value of £7OOO ; assume, as before, that the expenses of tho return voyage are £IOOO, and that a profit of £IOOO is again made ; by the time it reaches Liverpool the value is increased to £9OOO, the outcome of the original cargo of fancy cottons. The transaction will be recorded in the Customs House books as ‘ exports, £SOOO ;’ ‘ imports, £9000.’ ” This puts the matter very clearly. It is thoroughly applicable to the circumstances of New Zealand, and we earnestly advise tho alarmists here to study the question more closely than they appear to have done in the past.

Yra. Total Imports. Exports of British Produce. Exports of Foreign 4c Colonial Produce. £ £ £ 1806 205,290,274 183,917,530 . , ; 49,988,140 1807 275,183,137 180,901,923 44,840,000 1808 294.093,008 '179,077.812 48,100,042 1809 295,400,214 189,953,957 47.001,095 mo 303.257,493 199,680,822 44,403,755 1871 331,015,380 223,006,102. 00,508,638 1872 354,093,024 255,257,347 68,031,487 1873 371,287,372 255,164,003 55.840,102 1874 870.082,701 230,558,121 ; '58.092,343 m& 373,939,577 223,465,003 68,140,300