PROGRESS OF WELLINGTON.

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue 147, 22 June 1904, Page 5

PROGRESS OF WELLINGTON.

FIVE YEARS' CUSTOMS. WELLINGTON LEADS BOTH IS} IMPORTS AND EXPORTS! " •♦ BIG INCREASE IN EACH BRANCH^ The Minister for Customs, in a speechi which is said to have aroused some feeling in tho Noith, recently alluded to tha fact that, after a long race neck and neck, Wellington was at l;u*t drawing ahead oi Auckland in tho Oitkloins returns. At the present moment, it is not inopportune, to trace the fluctuations of the . Custom* . returns at the principal ports during tli« luf»t five- years. The argument lias been used in tii« past, on behalf of Wellington, that Auckland has been able to cuuira in herself , in a special way t!ie sugar , Customs, because m Auckhiad in located the refinery of tho Colonial Sug^r Company. If tin* .,., »ugar was treated outside the polony, andf'.' ' imported to New Zealand in the refined " stale like any other manufactured article, each port would get ite duo share, of tha ' sugar imports and duty thereon. But u& Auckland potfiCßScs the l^fiiiery, ull rtia • imported raw widj nearly all tlia ' duty thereon, come*, to tho Northern capital; there it is refined, and distribute^' " tluouguout the colony, without furthee * payment to tho Customs, except iv a limited number of cases where Soutbera merchants import, in bond. This suga* " duty, w hich during the last four years has ' increased at the rule of £10,000 a year, and which last year amounted to £196,829, i« undoubtedly a solid benefit t« Auckland. Nevertheless, Wellington baa • established for the year 1903x4, that is, ta " 3Lst March last, the lead in Customs, which, she- never was able to wrest froan Auckland before. *

A FLUCTUATING CONTEST. The history of the neck-and-ueck race between the two leading ports during the' liust four yean» hrs been : ]v 1900-01, Wei. lingtou led in imports and export*, but not iv Customs; in 1901-02 Auckland led in impoits and exports and Cu.stonwj' in 1902-03 Auckland led in import* and Customs, but not in exports; in 1903-04 , Wellington loads in all three. Wdlmatoa wrested tho lead in exports in. 1902-03 by a phenomenal increiuw ia exports thaij year, the increase being over £897,000,, In 1903-04 she took top place in imports and Customs by means of a similarly phe« noinenal increase in imports, amounting to nearly £582,000. On tl>e other hand, in 1903-04 Auckland has somewhat reduced the lead in exports established by Wellington in the preceding year, for last' year -Auckland's increase in exports wna £239,000, • Wellington's £96,000. In Connection with Wei, lington's recent ruse in imports, must bo remembered the *»till greater in.*» create in exports in lh^ preceding year, lest it be thought ti&£ our spending po-w* cr is trying to be more- elastic than oar power to produce. Tho present result o£ the race is all to Wellington, who, te tako exact fig«r«j, is ahead of her rirafl by £314,805 in import*, £360,029 in exports, and £10,933 in Costoms. The most noteworthy features of tho returns for 1903-04 are : (1) the unusually; heavy advance in imports at Wellington,' (2) the large .increase in. cx£mrtB troia Auckland, and (3) rho'haavy falling-offl in exports from Lyttoiton and Ducedra. TWENTY PER CE-NT. I3*OREASE IN' IMPORTS. The foHo^ring table shows the isiporte' of the colony for 1900-01 and 1903-04:— Values of Import* into Kew Zealand. * during the years ended 31st March, 1904 and 1901 respectively; specie and parcels not being included in porti totals :

Iho t-lupping figures Aye published the • other da,y # showed that Wellington and! Lyttelton had mado tho b%g«jt comparative increases in the last li\>e-yeur period. •' In the imports comparison between last rear and the preceding one, the same ro-j ' suit is shown. Out of the.total increas* (nearly £840,000) in North Island im. • ' 4>ort* in 1903-04 over 1902-03, Wellington ' claims nearly £582,000. Out of the total, increase (nearly £707,000) in South Is-.' - land imports., Lyttelton claims nearly £407,000. Dunedin's increase is nearly • £204.000, Auckland's nearly £148,000., The phenomenal increase in "Wellington i» 1903-04 is over one-third of tho total ' increase for tho whde colony; the col^ °i ny f«n!l creaso is owv Wjfif <»»*• on ' the 1902-03 iigttrea, white Wellington's xk over 20 per cent.. A«olcla«d's about 5 pe* cent. Taking total imports, it seems that- - though Wellington was £37,000 behind Auckland in 1901-02, and £119,000 behind in 1902-03, Wellington is now (1903-04) £314,000 in front, Oiough Auck, ' land haa in tho same year put on an in-, crease of nearly £148,000.

EXPORT INCREASES — AUCKLAND : AND WELLINGTON. .-„ ' '„. In exports, ifc is Auckksnd's turn in 1903-4, as in the preceding ywir it wu* Wellingtons. In 1901-2 Wellington's ex- '- ports wero nearl)' £64,000 Jess thmi Auck* ' ' land's, but in 1902-3 Wellington's increased by over £897,000, and were ia that year .nearly £603,000 in -excess -ofj -"' Auokhtnd's. This yoar, 1903-4, Auckland's figures have Weased by oveiJ ' 1 £239,000, and "Wellington's by ov<?Y £96 .. 000, Wellington having still a load from Auckland, iij total exports, of £360,000. Lyttelton and Dunedin allow great f»H« - ings off, probably duo to decreases (i& quantity or value) in exports of grain, irozen meat, taHow, coal, and other things. The Ml in tho £%uth would, • but for the rise in Auckland; have caused a decrease in total exports; Auckland* increase, £239,000, equal to about 11 peo cent, on tho preceding year's exports, ia very much in excess of the colony's in> crease, which is nearly £134,000! Tha figures are shown in the following table: * Values of Exports from New Zealand! during the years ended 31st March 1904 ' and 1901 respectively j specie and parcels po*,t not being included in port totals.

WELLINGTON'S CUSTOxMS SUPKB1 MACY. » The following table shows the colonv'* Customs revenue last year and five ago, and ako subdivides tho iiuures for each year iuto the following partacularas—Total* for each island, totals for each of the ports of the four centres '

totals for "other ports.'' in each iolaiid, the paivelb post figures, and the increase tjhown by the colony's total in each ye.ir over the preceding year. t Customs Rivo.nuo of Nuw Zealand for the y«.ars ended 31st March, 1904 and ISOO laspeelively; —

luerease on preceding year ... 264,624 141,717 lleie, also, tho llgufes for tho la it two jnh lead well for Wellington and LyttulUiii. Wellington** hieix-ahc for 1903-4 is nearly £96,000, Ly Helton's nearly £50,000, Duuedin'.s £34,000, and Auckiund's *i\er £33,000. Welliujrlim's incieuso i» nn.-ie Hum one-third of the incß-ut>e for the whoh- colony. Taking percentages on the iiguren for 1902-03, the incte.tses i:i 1903-04 approximately are: — The colony, aboiil '11 per cent. ; Wellington, m*avly 17 p<.r cent. ; Auckland, abuut 6 }Hjr <ent. It i.->, wo believe, the first time for many yo.us that Auckhiud has> i»ot. hemled the' lift. She has lost tho l->ad not ihi ough non-progivs"»ivein!(»s, but beontme of the phonomenal jump in thu import rcv«nut> nt Wellington. Fiom heing nearly £5^,000 behind Auckland, Wellington has in one. year become noariy £11,000 in iidvance*, notwithstanding the TOibsUinti.il indreii^' in thu. same year of over £33,000 in Auckland's own iigiues. In the tivc-j eiir poiiod, during which the colony's Customs have increased about 23 per cent.. Wellington's have inerea.vd about 37 per cont., Auckland's just over 27 per cent. IXTMR-ISLAND COMPARISONS. | In tho Idal l^ibla the ctmipamlive Cua- I toms returns for the two Islands for 190<5-04 and 1839-00 are given, and they show thut tfie North I/as consistently in«tvtt«ccl its ltvd. For last year the North Island's inwease in Customs was over £156,000, anil the South Island's over £102,000. In import*, the increases for lust, war were: — North Island, nearly £840,000; South Island, over £707,000. The opening of new land in the North Island h-,us given it the lead since, 1900; but the increase in' imports huil -year inthe South Inland was iv closer ratio to that of tho North than is reflected jn the Customs litcnres. In exports, on Iho • <) Hiev hand, the. South, for reasons already mentioned, falls away. North Island t-xpovts incroasL-d in 1903-4 by £561,691 ; South liland decietiscd by £398,153. Wo follow up the inter-Island Customs comparison by giving the comparative iig1 mes, throughout the four years, in iinpotts and exports (apart from specie): —

In justice to the .South Island, it must hv h.ud.lhat piobiibly the export do not show the productive power of thcSjouth lfeland to tho same extent as they show the productive power- -of tho North, because the South Island largely supplies other parts of the cotony with wheat, Hour, oats, and grain. These shipments to other parts of tho colon), though for purposes of comparison between ports they should really nuik as exports, do not appear iv the export returns. The port flapping statistics recently published are, therefore, a better basis for interIslnnd comparison.

Ports 1903-04. 1900-01* jN orUi Island : £ £ Auckland 3,160,086 2,612,70? Wellington ... 3,474,891 2,717,270 Other X.I. ports ... 627,070 501,024 South Island-: Duncdm. ... „. 2,197,730 2,124,840 2,176,340 1,836,45* Other S.I. ports .... 875,674 797 619 Total colony Total colony 13,267,366 11,191,028 Total apart specie 12,663,530 10,68:

isiM-4. 1800-1. North Island £ % Auckland ... 2,521,801 1,934,345 Wellington ... 2,881,850 2,146,906 N'«l>ier 993,688 896 594 Dther N.I. ports ... 1,951,946 1,415,515 South Island Lyttelton. ... „. 2,412,687 2,259 578 Dunodin 1,480,978 1,458,711 Bluff 850,774 8t2,781 limaru 967,716 71 J 555 Other S.I. ports ... 1,218,138 861,267 lotal Colony ... 15,508,616 12.W5,b20 "otal apart from Specio 15,301,209 12,513

i'oitf . 'Xotth Inland .Auckland ... Wellington . . Other X.I. ports... South bland Diuicdin Lytk-Uon , i Other >S.[. portß... 1903-4. £ 645,779 656,772 200,872 JO 439,977 391,411 22y,8'-J3 1899-0. 507,947 477,151 160,016 425,667 315,918 .201,477 To dil North Inland 1,503,423 1,145,114 Total South Island 1,061,211, 943,062 Parcels l>o a t Colony 31.015 Total Colony „.. 2,595,6-19 14,810 2,102,986

Year. 1903-4 ... 1902-3 ... 1901-2... 1900-1... Year. 1903-4 ... 1902-3 ... 1901-2... ISOO-1 . lAll'UlvJ.o. North J. South I. £ . £ 7,262,047 5,249,744 6,422,180 ' 4,542,640 6,329,909 4,809,629 5,831,001 4,758,917 EXPORTS. North I.' South 'l. £ £ 8,349,265 6,930,293 7,787,574 7,328,446 5,846,557 6,285,938 6,393, lt»0 6,107,192