The Press. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1894. IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 8727, 24 February 1894, Page 6

The Press. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1894. IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.

J The fact that the Premier considered I it necessary, in his speech at .Foxton, ! to dwell at some length on the question of exports is significant. The subject ; is one which might well occupy tho I serious attention of the Government. J It is no satisfaction to the averagu j colonist to be told that if this or tbu other thing had happened the value of our exports would h we. been, much 1 greater than they are. If the Governj ment have had any influence on tha 1 condition of ' the country—ss they loudly contend they hare—they musk face the fact -that tbe> valuu of ouv j exports has fallen continuously sincii 1 they took office, and that the volumo I has not increased so as to makeup far I the lesstned values. Ministers cannot; J blow hot and cold with respect to thli 'matter. If they have, we repeat, had { an infiuenct on the trade and industry ! of the country —as they claim they 1 have had—they must take the blamu I of having failed to give, that stimulu i < to industry needed to keep it moving I at the same rate of progress aa before. To hunt fox excuses lor the existing j state of things is to make a confeseiou I of failure. ■ ■ ■- : To put the question Iα another way, ; we would point out to Mr. Seddon thai; : the value of the excess of our export* j over imports has fallen year by year j since the aivent to office of the present party, while precisely the opposite I result was taking place prior to that J event. In 1890, the year preceding I the change of Government, our export* i exceeded our imports by J53,(j40,758: I In 1893 the excess was only £2342,410 i ; a fall of about £I£QQ,OOQ. T*> plaof J the case befcre our readers fully, w* i give the. following figures, showing tb j j excess of exports for each of thetuaet six 1 years, specie being eliminated: — 1 EXCESS OF £X«OBTS. I 1888 _. 4*1,974156 1389 -< S*2QW7I ' 1880 ... 3,640,421 1891 ' "*" .. 3^129,758 1892 ... 2,748,376 1895.*.*. '" ... 2,242,410 ' In 1888, it will be remembered, the colony began to recover from the,

depression which bad for some years b ing over it. At the same time the Government put into practice the policy of reducing the expenditure of borrowed money. That year the eucess of exports was nearly £2,000,000; next year it was over three millions, and the following year it? was over three and a half millions. But with 1890 the era of progress, inthie direction, closed. The Seddon party CMne into power and since then, as will be seen, the movement has been in the other direotion, till for 1593 we were iv abouo the same position we were in 1888. Now it is well-known tfaab a country which has to pay interest on a debt contraoted abroad must pay that interest by exports, and a country that has borrowed should show an excess of exports equal to the annual interest payable. Id would bo different, we admit, were capital being imported all the time, for capital reaches a country in the form of goods not of coin ; but aa New Zealand has net lately been receiving capital from outside, but—as Ministers contend—sending ie away, the figures we have quoted above tell their own tale.

Ministers, we venture to suggest, should give these facts their immediate and earnest attention. There must be a cause for so remarkable a falliug off in the value of our surplus exports. 3,'uat cause cannot alone be* found in the faot that the values of our staple products have in many instances fallen. Oar population during the last three years has been materially increased, not only by an excess of births, but by an excess of immigration over emigration. In a young and half .developed colony like this the population ithould be productively employed, and the result should hare been apparent in a largely increased volume of exports, more than sufficient to make up for the fall in values which has taken place. But the figures we have quoted appear to indicate that this has not been the case. Ie would seem that a not inconsiderable portion of the labour of the past three years has nob been productive. If accurate returns could be obtained of how not a few of our population have been employed, it would, we believe, be found that they had been doing work which ia of little value to the country. From 18SS to 1890, inclusive, there was actually an excess of departures over arrivals. Notwithstanding that un» pleasant faot, those who remained succeeded in showing results which not a little astonished our critios abroad. Why is it that, with a considerable increase of population, we have never since been able even to maintain our position, far less show the same advance? We bring these facts before the Government in no hostile spirit. In the publio interests we beg of them to examine the subject purely from a national point of view. We venture to affirm that if they were to do this, they would discover causes at) work which if removed would materially assist in giving buoyancy to the colony, which would eventually lead to steady and assured progress.