Comparative Statistics.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 138, 23 January 1886, Page 5

Comparative Statistics.

From the statistics just published of the Customs revenue collected in the colony for the last quarter of 1885, some interesting particulars may be gleaned of the comparative progress of the different parts of New Zealand. Over the whole colony the quarter's receipts compare unfavourably with those of the December quarter of 1884, but the decrease is only about £3,000, which is nob a very serious matter in a total of £324,447. Taking the four chief ports, we find their respective positions are unaltered, Otago being first with £80,241, Auckland next with £67,688, Wellington third with £61,448 and Lyttelton last with £47,920. It is noticeable how rapidly the imports to Wellington are increasing, and to note that for several years there has been a corresponding fall in the receipts at Lyttleton. Wellington's prosperity is to a greatextent due to the excellent railway system ! which that district enjoys, making Cook's Strait the entrepot for a large tract of country, and it also gains something by being the seat of Government and by the policy of attracting ships to the port by minimising the charges on commerce. The decadence ©f Christchurch is not so easily accounted for, but doubtless the very depressed state of the chief industries of Canterbury has a good deal to do with it. If so, it is cheering to note that the lowest point in the depression has been passed, as the receipts for last quarter are £1,000 in excess of those of the corresponding period of 1884. This increase is all the more remarkable from the fact that Auckland showß a falling off of over £3.000, and Dunedin a fall of £10,000, in the last quarter of 1885 as compared with the same quarter of 1884. But there are more important conclusions to be drawn from these returns, and which rather contradict original impressions. Adding together the receipts at Auckland and Wellington, we get a total of £129,136, while the sum of the receipts at Lyttelton and Dunedin is £128,161, showing the two northern cities to be at least in advance of their Southern rivals. The prosperity of the Worth is further brought out by comparing the duties collected in the two Islands. The North Island receipts are £150,169, or within a very small cum of one-half of the total of the colony ; and when it is remembered by how much the South Island exceeds the North in population, it will be apparent how widely differ ent is their present condition. The returns as a whole are most gratifying, save with respoct to the evidence of hardship in the Southern portion of the colony ; and it is to be hoped that future returns will tell of continuous and healthy growth in our imports, testifying to good spending power on the part of the people.