HUGE INCREASES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 116, 19 May 1939, Page 9

HUGE INCREASES.

DOMINION IMPORTS.

transport and industry.

GOVERNMENT INVESTIGATION.

Remarkable developments in New Zealand's import trade during the six years m - to l!).l- inclusive, when the "total animal value of imports was more than doubled, are shown in the published results of an investigation backed u|m>h returns of numerous Departments of the Government. A similar analysis is being '•'""•'l "lit for J MS, but is not vet pom ph'to. f>ut>tandin£f features of the .compari• sons nre the enormous expansion I sealed in the importation of transport •■'l-pnicnt tor ,-oad and ,„i!wa v services. t lie equipping „f industry. The purchase of producers' materials' for the building and construction of industrv r" " rCi 'tly increased. A jiioup in whuh the expansion has been ess marked, but still of large proportions, ,s that which includes goods for general consumption. As a result mainly n f the public work* activities the proportion of total expenditure used for building up the tiansport services of the Dominion ;? t n ;;; li?Mly ~mlpr 7 ' ,er <*»* il.i_. to I ».(>.) per cent in 1937. The p»i<(ntnge of expenditure on consumers' goods fell during the same period from about 30..-> to 28. Detailed Comparisons. Details of the figures for the first and last years ol the period covered by the analysis are: — *032 j937 Producers' Materinls— 1 Builtllntr anil construction 1.152,152 4,137,130 „ Farm 844.909 1.343,701 Ma nu fact tiring-— £°°d 1,449,446 1,923 10" Reverafres 24.241 80 955 T"^" , ' co 185.305 241 124 ',? th r r -• • • 7,179,497 13,724 253 luels and 1ubri\2,138,962 2,899.266 Auxiliary aids to production 657,699 1,074,930 Producers' Equipment £ arm 474,579 1.696,186 Commerce and Industry 1,307,440 5,236,085! Transport Equipment— I Hallway 61,652 461.108 s??* 1,599.529 7.613.796 Other 11,190 132,720 1 Consumers' Goods— E 0 °d 1.216.276 1.966,740 Beverages 876.749 1.662.601 462.989 775,597 Clothing and accessories 2.210.025 3,635,632 Household equip- „ ,non t 928.472 3.208.810 °tl»r 1.802.669 4,116.058 UnclHHsitled .... 2,225 208,895 Total merchandise Imports £24,646,006 £56,160,695 Manufacturing Progress. The progress of manufacturing in the Dominion strikingly revealed in the large increase in expenditure on both materials and equipment. In 1932, which was a year of widespread unemployment, industrial activity was at a low ebb. The veare of greatest progress were from 1035 onwards. Farming development was also rapid in 1935 and later. It i* expected, however, that when, the 1938 figures become available there will be apparent a reversal of this trend.

The results of the investigation do not indicate an over-importation of goods for ordinary consumption, but lead to the conclusion that the proportion of the drain on the Dominion's London funds attributable to importing activities is accounted for mainly by capital expenditure, in which the Government and industrial firms have shared.