OUR TRADE.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 December 1915, Page 4

OUR TRADE.

The present year is the greatest in point of trade New Zealand has ever experienced. The "Abstract of Statistics," issued 'by the Government tStatistician gives the figures for the eleven months ending November 30. They disclose, considering it is war time, a remarkable position. The previous year was an extraordinarily good one, but this year surpasses It. Of course, the' enhanced prices ruling for our products—due to the war—are chiefly responsible for the increase, but there has in some lines boon an increase in quantity as well. We give the figures for the • eleven months of the two years, specie being excluded: — 1915 1914. £ £ Exports 28,020,780 23,185,724 Imports 18,783,19S 19,358,126 Excess exports £9,237,'588 £3,827,610 December is a heavy exporting month, and between the value of the produce and the imports for that month there should be a balance of another million to swell the excess, which will thus be over £10,000,000. Ten millions o,f a surplus! The figures are almost unbelievable. To appreciate what they mean we must take the excess of exports over imports for the last five years. The best previous year was 1910, when it amounted to £5,404,250; in 1911 it was but £197.577; 1912, £935,047; 1913, £1,156,773; and last year it rose to £5,109,098. These returns give a yearly average for the five years of £2,519,071. This year, therefore, the margin will be four times greater than the average. This explains the fact of there being an abundance of .money in' the country at the present time, and the prosperity we are enjoying. Analysing the returns for the past year, we find that the principal increases are in the returns for wool, meat, butter and cheese, but the Government Statistician points out that the quantities of wool, butter and cheese exported in the last eleven months were actually lower than in 1914, though the values have advanced almost out of recognition, Some of th»

larger items contributing towards abnormal situation may be mentioned: Eleven months 1915 1914 £ £ Wool . 0,047,722 7,910,947 Frozen meat 7,568.050 5,020,269 Live stock 180,003 70,305 Hides .... 477,925 324.391 Butter 2.051,150 1,792,332 Cheese 2,330,015 2,184,007 New Zealand, it has often been said since the war broke out, is the most fortunate part of the British Empire. The figures, we have quoted prove that New Zealand must be the luckiest part of the world at the present time. But should we continue leaning on the Old Land, which we know will be hard put to it to find the necessary money before the is won, for our share of the coat? The war is costing us £0,000,000 a year. The increased prfcc we arc getting as a result of the Empire being at war would more than cover the whole cost. Of course, we don't suggest that wo sliould squeeze this out of the producers, but we do think that in common decency and fairness to the Mother Country we should raise our war money ourselves. This we can do, as shown above, without affecting the financial stability of the country in the slightest measure and would prove the first step towards a policy of self-reliance that New Zealand should be glad to adopt.