BALANCE OF TRADE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 71, 26 March 1910, Page 9

BALANCE OF TRADE.

THE POSITION TO-DAY. WHERE WELLINGTON STANDS. ! The Wellington Chamber of Commerce, at its annual meeting on 30th March, will have a very instructive report to consider. There is shown, in the advance sheets now under review, to have been an astonishing recovery from the position which the chamber took occasion to deplore last year. The yea» 1907-8 was one of a remarkable shrinkage of exports and, as some thought, an alarming increase of imports. The position to-day is apparent by the following table :—'-

It will be seen that the year 1908-9, under review, has an excess of exports of the value of £3,784,154 in place of what may be termed a balance on the wrong side of the ledger in the previous period of £1,380,281. In fact, last year excess exports were about on a par with those of 1906-7, when they amounted to a value of £3,819,959. The compiler of the report, referring to 1907-8, states :—"The position was really even worse than the figures indicate, as it is generally recognised that our chief export, wool, was in that year over-valued by about one million sterling. The abnormal call upon the banks amounted, therefore, in round numbers, to about •is millions." DETAILS OF EXPORTS. The values oi principal expor's and their influence upon the improved position are set out as under . —

Total ... 18,953,661 16,384,173 The year past shows over a million less in the value of chief exports when compared with the 1906-7 period, but over two and a half million pounds better for this (1908-9) year than that immediately preceding. The report is careful to state that "the drop in wool, as well as in the total value, in 1907-8, j and the measure of recovery in 1908-9, were both greater than the figures show, owing to the over-valuation of wcol re- ' ferred to above. With exception of gold, hemp, and re-exports, each class shows increase, the most remarkable case being that of grain and grain pro- l ducts." Thu last was due to the surplus of some two million bushels of wheat over and above home requirements, and, therefore, exportable; and it should be mentioned that there will be a surplus of fully two million bushels available for export this har.rest. •• CHIEF PRODUCTS. Wool, meat, dairy produce, wheat, and tallow all &how great increases in production, but hemp shows a falling off for 1308-9 of from 19,156 tons for the year before, to 14,045 tons. The total of wool reaches a level never attained before, the result of increased flocks and well-grown fleece, and this increase in quantity claims a larger share in the augmented value than is attributable to higher prices. The quantity of wool for the North Island shows an increase of 21 per cent., while that for the South Island is from 4 to 5 per -cent. The report states that the official values for wool for 1907-8 were as manifestly too high as those for 1908-9 were too low. Frozen meat, while showing an increase of 25 per cent, in weight, is much below that percentage in value for the period under review compared with the 1907-8 year. The extremely low prices ruling last year in the London market and the stupendous over-supply will account for this state of affairs. Both butter and cheese show great increases in quantity and values, being for the two islands as follow :—: — N. Island. S. Island. £ £ Butter 1,360,123 125.805 Cheese . 672,430 321,263 The position the previous year was as follows >-Butter—North Island, £1,054,925; South Island, £91,089. Cheese —North Island, £518.367; South Island, £247,028. IMPORTS. Referring to imports, the report shows that there has been a drop from the 1907-3 period from £17,750,868 to £14,916,005 for the period under review. Each division of the Dominion shows a shrinkage more or less substantial. The total, apart from specie, as well as the total for each island, shows a decrease of about 16 per cent.

Lear. .905-6 .906-7 L 9078 L9OB-9 Exports. • £ 17,709,378 19,891,846 16.370.687 13,700,159 Imports. £ 13,575,121 16,071,887 17,750,868 14,916,005

Wool 5,914,^5 Sheepskins 657,185 Frozen Meat ... 3,561,878 Butter and Cheese 2,479,626 Tallow . .. 647,715 Gold 1.942,089 Kauri Gum . 517,536 Hemp . ... 297,592 Timber 347,149 Grain, whole and ground 844,793 Other N.Z. Produce 1,317,178 £ 5,710,927 525,845 3,052,362 1,911,409 463,823 2,043,975 406,678 460,619 346,264 98,554 1,097,765 Total N.Z. Produce Re-exports Specie . . 18,527,441 ... 172.718 ... 253,502 16,118,221 252,366 13,586