MONDAY, MAY 23, 1887.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 120, 23 May 1887, Page 4

MONDAY, MAY 23, 1887.

The trade returns for 1886 whicli bear on local industry furnish evidence of some headway made by our manufacturer., against the imports, although there is still much room for improvement. In the item of candles, for example, the import has declined from £71,072 worth in ISSS to .£42,117. A decrease of £29,556 in the amount sent ont of the colony for an article we possess all the materials to manufacture profitably on the spot -is encouraging, but still we may ask why send away the , £42,117 when New Zealand is an exporter of tallow to the tune of £119,619 a year? Soap is rapidly disappearing from our import list. The common soap imported last year was only valued at £"1,314; the year before it was double the amountFancy soaps from abroad, however, represented £"4,197, being £1,500 less than in the year preceding. Despite the remarkable development of the boot and shoe industry, the large sum of £^157,445 last year went abroad for these goods; but even this was some £28.000 less than the value of the imports of ISSS. The imports of carriages had dropped from £"8,666 to ;£3,112; of leather t from £79,573 to £49,685 ; and smaller decreases are noticeable in other departments of local manufacture. No one can peruse these returns wi*thj out being struck by the wide field for enterprise whichyetremains fordevelopment. The following goods—representing in labour and material nearly a million pounds sterling—which might, for the most part, have been produced in the colony, were imported during the year 1886: Bark, ,£42,511 ; basketware, £1,637; beer, £"71,210; biscuits, .£931 ; boots and shoe 3, £157,445; candles, £42,117; carnages, .£3,112; cement, £72,631; coai, £123,345; confectionery, £S,S7I ; cordage, £5,193; woollens,. £87,550; fish (potted), .£25,302; furniture and upholstery, £"43,823; hats and caps, £"35,829; leather, £49,685; cornflour, £"8,93-5; preserved milk, £"12,093; pickles, £5,302; saddlery, £"25,955; salt, £18,281; sauce, £13,546; starch, £;7,656 ; timber, £23,489 ; vinegar, £9,325; jams and jellies, £12,172. It is worth the attention of our timber companies that, notwithstanding the depressed condition of the timber industry, and low prices, the imports of Bawn timber last year were £"23,489, against . £19,605. Attention to the growing j practice of specifying Baltic timber for i doors and sashes was not drawn a moment too soon, and it devolves upon those interested in this important mii .ustry to adopt some steps to remove t.be objections upon which this pernicious practice'is founded.

We commend the listpublishedabove, and -which might be supplemented almost interminably, to those who experience a difficulty in finding suitable openings for their capital. There is a wide sphere yet for the development of profitable industries. It only requires the skill, the perseveraace, and the money to* double our present manufacturing pow-er.'