THE TRADE OF AUCKLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 87, 11 April 1906, Page 4

THE TRADE OF AUCKLAND.

Mr. Hamer deserves the thanks of the community for the interesting and convincing illustration, of the growth of Auckland's trade, which he has recently! supplied to the Harbour Board. We re-i produce a portion- of these "graphic statistics"'in out supplement-to-day, and* our readers will find in them ample scop? for reflection upon the rapidity with which our sea-borne commerce has. increased within recent years. Since 1892 our imports *"have grown from £1,642,880 to £3,517.000. During the some period our exports have more than doubled themselves; rising from £1,217,-' 153 in 1892 to £2,643,503 in 1905. A' glance at the diagrams supplied shows that kauri gum and gold have all along formed the bulk of Auckland's exports.' The figures for gum vary from £517,078: in 1892 to £631,101 in 1903, and back to £561,443 in 1905; but the annual returns have-never "fallen below £400,000, and it is twelve years /since they were so low. The figures for gold, however, show a much larger and" more rapid rato of increase. In 1 892 our gold '-sxport was valued at ohvy £183,654. * By 1896 it had risen to £350,071;, bj" 1899 it was' £624,739; and by 1905' it had reached the huge sum of £935,494, Within a very short time we may reasonably ex-, pect to find Auckland sending away £1,000,000 worth of gold a] year. AH this time our minor industries have been growing at something like a proportionate rate. Our wool export in 1892 was valued at £163,712; and by 1905 it was -only £180,244. The highest point reached in the iuterval was in.lOO*. when Auckland exported nearly ;..£239,000. worth of wool. But our dairy produce gives a much more promising return. In 1892 our export of dairy products was worth only £27,T 13. But by 1898 it had. risen to £46,127; by 1902 it was valued at £125,660; by 1904 it was Worth £251,761; and though it fell off slightly for 1905, it is a remarkable fact that our dairy exports are now worth about nine time 3 as much to us-annually as they were fourteen years ago. Tti another interesting series of diagrams Mr Hamer contrasts the state of our export and import "trade to and from foreign countries with our exports and imports,to and from the United Kingdom.. Iri 1892 our British imports totalled £ 1,043,647 out. of a grand total of £ 1,642,686 —thatisyabout five-eighths of the whole. By 1903 the proportions were £1,711,450 to £3,157,090 —that is, British goods formed something less than half of our total imports. Meantime, our imports from Australia had risen from £248,590 to £330,826, and our imports from the United States-bad gone up from. £71,792 to £329,519. On the export side our preference for the" British market 13 more clearly pronounced. In 1892 our exports: to; the United Kingdom were only £493,582, or something oyer one-third of the total. By 1903 our exports to the United Kingdom had risen to £1,612,956, out" of £2,643,503, or considerably more than one-half of the totah In the interval our exports to the United States have fallen from £406,336, the figure ; at which they stood in 1892, to £399,659 in 1905. These returns should certainly be very encouraging -.to those who. believe In the. future of .Imperial Preference. And to patriotic Aueklanders the general character of "these statistics should be at leas t equally/ inspiring. In • 1892 Auckland's imports were valued at. £ 1,642,833— the highest .figure reached-, by any district in the colony—out.of.aJ tqtal oi £6,918,195 for the whole of ' New Zealand. Wellington was .then be-) hind Auckland, with imports' to" the | value of £ 1,527J186. By 1905 the positions of these two centres .were reversed, j Wellington coming first with £!3,837,729,' while Auckland 'was' 'second £3,156,410, out of Va;': grand total of j £12,638,148. But here, it will he ohserved that ■ Auckland claims just onequarter in valu.e„oi_.tbo colony's total imports—a larger proportion than she -I held in .1892. As to exports, we have risen from the third place, in order of : magnitude in 1892 to the second place in : 1905. We export goods worth £2,643,495, as against £1,214,878 in IS92—that. is, our export values, have more than donbled, in fourteen years. -And we now .send put more than one-seventh of the eolonyfs total exportsi;whereas our share j 1892 i was about one-eighth ol the whole. Taking everything into account, ; >*e-luirft .«verj| .j«|ti||||j|,

with* the marveflbns'cotfaTOr««l piigress .; that the district and the pdst of Auckland have made within, recent years, and"' it should add to"our;satVfacti6n to learn j from Mr Hamer gyiiCsef ul diagrams and figures that something" seven-eighths of ''our''total-'trade 6n 'irajbhi other-portions of the great EmpFre on the security andl'jffpsperity of whichyont own safety and progress must depend.