NEW ZEALAND’S WOOL EXPORT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5662, 23 May 1879, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND’S WOOL EXPORT.

We recognise that it is possible to increase the tightness of money by public allusion to its scarcity, and by making a fuss about it, but complaints are so numerous that it would be wilful blindness to ignore the state of the financial market. While admitting the present scarcity here, the positive plethora of the money market in England, which is recorded in a paragraph which we reprint from the “European Mail,” gives us ground for hoping that confidence will soon be restored, and that a fair share of the money now lying idle in the hands of the English banks may shortly find its way to New Zealand. There is good reason for believing that such will be the case, and that the solid claims for confidence whichNewZealand can advance when she enters into the loan-market are such as will give her debentures a preferential claim upon the attention of capitalists over and above the claims which can be brought forward even by the sister colonies. We recently pointed out the enormous increase in the land brought under tillage within the past year or two ; we now lay before our readers a summary of the wool imported into London during the past four years, both from New Zealand and the other chief wool-growing colonies :

From the above table it will be seen that New Zealand is the only colony out of all those enumerated which exhibits a uniformly steady increase in the growth of this industry. The returns of the other eight colonies show a decided falling off during the past year, and although this may be largely due to temporary causes, droughts, floods, &a., statistics prove that in Victoria and South Australia the number of sheep and the amount of wool grown is decreasing yearly. The increase shown above in the number of bales amounts to 28,650 in all, yet we find upon calculation that the average weight of each bale has also greatly increased. . And allowing for some slight discrepancy between the dates at which the imports were taken in London and the exports calciflated in New Zealand we find that whereas in 1875 the average weight of a bale of wool from New Zealand was 3601b5, it will now be found to exceed 380 lbs. The general adoption of an improved system of wool-packing would almost account for this increase, but it is no doubt partly attributable also to the greater prevalence of the practice of shipping home New Zealand wool “in the grease.” The importance of these figures can hardly be overrated when the effect of the prosperity of this industry upon the general welfare is duly appreciated. It may be gathered from the following : The total value of all our exports in 1877 was £6,078,000 ; of this amount £3,658,000 was the value of the wool, £1,476,000 the value of the gold exported, leaving only £943,000 to represent the export value in that year of all the other goods exported, such as grain, hides, tallow, flax, &c. The fall in the value of the wool has been so great, and is so well known, that it may appear almost superfluous to refer to it ; but we question whether the difference it will effect in the income of the colony at large has as yet been' thoroughly appreciated. In 1875 the value of the wool exported was estimated, in round numbers, at £3,400,000, representing a weight of 54,440,0001b5., showing an average estimated value of about Is. 3d. per lb. In 1877 we find by calculation that the estimated value per lb. had dropped down to Is. Id., and we have reason to believe that the average price realised was considerably below this estimate. At the present moment we suppose that greasy wool of average quality would be difficult of sale in Wellington at Bd., and after making due allowance for the proportion of washed and scoured wool exported, we believe that lOd. per lb., as an all-round estimate, would be an excessive valuation. Upon the export of 1877, this decline in value would represent a loss of income of about £853,000 for the colony to sustain. The calculation further shows that a decline in the value of wool of a penny per lb. at that date, meant a loss to the woolgrowers of about £280,000. Allowing for the subsequent rapid increase in the production and export, it may be fairly assumed that at the present time a rise or fall of one penny per lb. in the value of wool represents a loss or gain of £300,000 of income to the sheepfarmers.

It is unfortunate that our income as a community depends so largely upon a commodity subject to such sudden fluctuations in value as wool ; but coal, cotton, iron, grain, and flour have shown equal if not greater fluctuations within the past decade. We have but endeavored to point out how great a stress the change in the value of our staple product must have laid upon the colony as a whole, and how little cause for surprise there is that money should be scarce at a time when the decrease in the export of wool alone will almost explain the scarcity without taking into account the simultaneous decline in the value of the gold exported. Hard though the times are in New Zealand, owing to the above causes, the table we have quoted at the commencement of the article is such as to infuse confidence into the heart of a moneylender. In the face of a market which has been steadily declining during the past three years a large and constantly increasing production has been going on here, and as. a colony there can be no doubt whatever that we must be better able to withstand the pressure than some of our less fortunate neighbors ; who, being like ourselves large wool growers, have not

only to face declining values, but also a decrease in the quantities produced. The effect of the low prices for wool has doubtless given a great impulse to our agriculture. Our export trade in grain shows an astounding increase within the past year or two, and the money derived from this source will help to fill the gap caused by the decrease in the revenue derived from wool. It will also give our farmer s asecond string to their bow, and render them somewhat less dependent upon one single source of revenue.

— 1S7S. 1877. 1876. 1875. Bales. Bales. Bales. Bales. N.S.W. and Queensland 175 641 183,011 170,421 142.032 302,505 334,307 305,542 279,751 Tasmanian 21,287 21,550 20,590 19.076 South Australian 104.808 107,470 102.39C 100,855 West Australian 8.132 8,180 7,554 6,745 New Zealand .. 178,540 169,847 162,280 149,800 Capo and Natal.. 160,263 169.785 168,514 174,081 Total bales.. 951.185 994,856 937,300 873,336