The Press. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1869.

Press, Volume XIV, Issue 1823, 15 February 1869, Page 2

The Press. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1869.

The JNew Zealand Gazette of the Bth inst contains a return of the customs revenue at tbe several ports of New Zealand during the quarter ended the 31st December, 1868, and a comparative return of tbe revenue for tbe years 1867 and 1868. The total for the last quarter was £200,861, differing by but a few hundreds from the amount received during the corresponding quarter of the previous year, which was £209,118. There is no noticeable variation in the amounts taken at the different ports, with the exception of Auckland and Hokitika, the former of which exhibits an increase from £25,546 to £43,986, owing, of course, to the population attracted to the Thames goldfields, while the latter has fallen from £26,069 to £20,649. The quarter's revenue at Lytteiton was £20,102 against £21,51$ for the same quarter last year. With regard to the whole year, there has been a decline in the revenue *of £55,168, the figures being, for 1867, £843,997, and for 1868, £788,829. The comparative returns for the several ports show a falling off at all except Auckland and Westport, though, with the single exception of Hokitika, it is not considerable at any. Thus the difference between the two years' returns at Wanganui is £2,957; at Wellington, £6,567; at Napier, £3,410; at Nelson, £3,111; at Lytteiton, £8,610, being £83,123 for 1868 against £91,733 for 1867; at Timaru, £T,480; at ©uttedin, £3,243; at Invercargill, £973. Hokitika fell from £121,992 in 1867, to £81,716 last year, a difference of no less than £40,276; in the ■fece of .which, coupled with the still greater diminution in the exports of gold, we can be at no loss to account for the extreme depression that has for some time prevailed in the town. Of the two ports whose figares stand the other way, Auckland has risen from £116,954 to £140,758, the difference having decreased almost entirely during the last quarter. Westport? must have done well, as its gold returnralso prove, at some time of the year, for its customs revenue for the'

twelvemonth surpassed that of the former year by £10,000, though it was less by nearly £3,000 during the last quarter. The same Gazette also contains a return of the quantity and value of gold exported from New Zealand during the years 1867 and 1868. The total value of last year's exports was £2,501,326, just about £200,000 less than the year before. Auckland exported gold to the value of £168,874. Hokitika fell from £957,712 in 1867 to £627,836, and Q-reymouth from, £503,836 to £389,116 ; while the value | of the gold exported from Westport rose from £342,404 to £509,504. This shows that the goldfields on the West Coast have been extending to the northwards. The returns, however, from Hokitika and G-reymouth during the past year remained at a pretty steady average during the year, [while from Westport they fluctuated considerably, and in tbe last quarter fell off by several thousands. This explains the decrease in the customs revenue during the same quarter, as many of the miners had probably left the district. The amount of gold exported from the West Coast during the year was 402,1760z5., of the value of £1,608,704; and from Otago, 163,089 ozs., of the value of £652,356. The yield from Otago increased in value during the year by about £65,000, and is now a little in excess of that from Hokitika, to which it used to be a long way inferior. The total amount of gold exported from New Zealand from the Ist April, 1857, to the 31st December, 1868, a period of eleven years and three is 4,383,688 ozs., representing a value in money of £17,044,899.