EMPIRE TRADE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 336, 24 September 1932, Page 3

EMPIRE TRADE

VALUE TO NEW ZEALAND STRESSED BY SHIPPING PAPER. The importance of Empire trade to New Zealand is made the subject of i comment in "The Syren and Shipping," a British shipping journal. "At a time when Empire trade problems are so prominently to the. f ore," states the "Syren and Shipping," "the appearance of the 1932 edition of the 'New Zealand Year Book' is very opportune, especially as many of the economic questions confronting this distant Dominion are shared by other units of the Empire, and hence suggest the desirability of a common solution. New Zealand has the distinction of having a total trade per head of population which is greater than that of any other country, a position due to the fact that her output of pri_ mary products is far in excess of domestic requirements, and also to the comparatively undeveloped state .of her secondary industries, thus necessitating a big hnport trade in manufactured goods. With assured markets for her meat, wool, dairy produce, and fruit, New zealand has so far been content to sell and buy abroad and has refrained from any serious attempt to become self-supporting, a policy which, in the opinion of many, has been an important factor in contributing to her prosperity. The Dominion, however, has experienced, in common with other countries, the trade fluctuations which have so prejudiced the flow of intexmational commerce during the last decade. In 1925 the total trade was over £108,000,000, the excess of exports being more than six and a half millions. In 1926 it was ten millions less, the imports being £5,800,000 greater than the exports. Hn 1929 the excess of exports was £9,737,000, but in J930 the imp'orts were the greater by £1,240,000, while in 1931 the pendulum again swung the other way, so that exports amounted to three and a half millions more than the imports. During these last three years it is interesting to note that the aggregate trade was £70, £71, and £59 per capita. The importance of Empire trade to New Zealand is abundantly evident from the returns for the last 12 months for which data is available. Exports were approximately £45,000,000, and imports £2,000,000 less. The ; United Kingdom purchased New Zea- I land produce to the extent of £36,000,- j 000, but only supp-lied £21,000,000 of i the total imports, the Empire as a i whole absorbing her exports to the value of £41,000,000 and providing £31,000,000 of the imports. Foreign countries, whose purchases of Dominion produce aggregated a little over four millions, provided manufactured goods to the value of £12,315,000, the figures for the United States being £2,117,000 and £7,391,000. The over- j whelming preponderance of the Empire trade is reflected in the shipping j engaged, as out of 600 vessels entered, j 289 were registered in the United i Kingdom, 147 in New Zealand, 77 in other British countries, and only 87 were under foreign flags.