The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1905. NORTH ISLAND PROGRESS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7818, 10 May 1905, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1905. NORTH ISLAND PROGRESS.

The quarterly official returns of the colony's exports and imports, as published in the Gazette, are always worthy of consideration by all classes of the community. They form, as if were, the financial barometer of trade, and serve as reliable indications of the true position of the colony as a whole, as well as lo show the progress or otherwise of its various component parts. One of the reasons that these returns- are not studied by a larger number of people is to be found in the dislike that secma inherent to wading through a mass of statistics, which are generally considered to be dry and uninteresting to the ordinary reader. There was a time when oven the lato Mr Gladstone held this view, and it was not until the subtleties of higher mathematics claimed his attention that hia enthusiasm in figures was aroused in such a way that in after years some of his most memorable triumphs were" associated with his Budget speeches, and he was probably the first statesman to clothe an array of figures with interest of an absorbing nature. Although we cannot hope to meet with similar success, it is none the less our des-iro to ingress on the public that they should attentively study the returns published from time to time disclosing the financial position of the coUny. Jn the figures for the quarter ending o* March 31 last t is gratifying to find that the exports show an increase of over threequarters of a million, as compared with the corresponding period of last year, and it is not surprising to find that wool and butter are responsible for nearly the whole of the excess, wool alone accounting for over seven hundred thousand pounds of the amount. For the last thrca ■•oars our exports have averaged over fifteen millions, the fractions over rising from about a n eighth to just above half a million. The chief items of export which have brought about this increase arc dairy produce, woo!, hemp, and timber. Taking the last two years and comparing them with one another, we find that whilp the articles mentioned above show a total .increase last year of over half a million pounds in value, grain, frozen .meat, tallow.

'<nuri guin, gold, etc., represent a decrease of over three-quarters of a million, the net increase being a little short of u quarter of a milI, lion. It should, hoivevor, be pointed out that hut for the rise in the •" price of wool last year the returns for that item would have shown a , decrease of two hundred thousand _ pounds; instead of the increase already mentioned, the reason heing that the quantity exported was between four and five per cent. less than in the previous year. The feature in these statistics that should _ prove gratifying to the settlers in this purl 01 the colony is the evidence given «a jo the made hy the North Island during (he past four years, as compared with the South Island, for while the latter i has increased tho value of Its ex- J ports by only about three hundred thousand pounds, the North Island shows » steady increase of over ] three millions, Taranaki contributing a respectable quota to this aggregate, -though Auckland /shows a slight falling off. The rapid growth of settlement in the North Island is beginning to be felt in the scale of the colony'« output, but the full elTcct cannot become apparent until the backblocks are , proiwrly loaded, and facilities afforded for the transit of produce. There seems to be a disposition on the part of tho Government to push forward those much needed aids to prosperity, and it ia to be hoped that the work will not be allowed to languish for want of funds. The excellent position attained by the North Island is all the more creditable to the settlers by I reason of the disadvantages under ', which' many of them Have laboured, . while it should serve as an incen 1 tive to the Government to forward ' the best interests of the colony by carrying' out the urgently required ' public works. I'