OTAGO'S TRADE IN 1912.

Evening Star, Issue 15066, 24 December 1912, Page 4

OTAGO'S TRADE IN 1912.

A HAPPY YEAR FOR PRODUCERS. GOOD BUSINESS FOR TRADERS. CREAT PRICES AND PROSPECTS. Trade in Otago throughout this year has been remarkably good. As regards the staple prod'ucts it has often reached record standard. In town and country the people moye amidst prosperity. The greatest prosperity has been experienced by farmers and pastoralists, who have obtained for all their products splendid financial returns. In potatoes alone it is estimated that, compared to results in previous years, growers and merchants in Otago have shared an extra profit of about £40,000. At the beginning of last season trade in new potatoes opened badly, the best price being about £l4 per ton. By Christmas time the price had dropped to £l2. From January to March the rate receded steadily, and stood for a time at £4 per ton. Improvement came in June, when the main crop was placed in the market. Australia supplied an insatiable demand, and prices increased rapidlv to as high as £ll during October. Even now old potatoes are nominally worth £6 per ton. It is estimated that "about 5,000 tons of potatoes, at an average price oi £3 per ton, were shipped to Australia. In other years growers have had to give largo quantities of potatoes to their pigs. If potatoes had as many hands as eyes one could believe that many farmers" would this Christmas shako every hand very vigorously. The potato this'year has been a staunch friend.

As regards grain and other products of the fields, the same story of prosperity has to be recorded. An exception must be made of wheat, which did not command as high prices as those obtained in other years. The price for wheat is described having been moderate, averaging about 3s 9d f.o.b. Merchants have sold wheat freely in the past at 4s per bushel. Ryegrass did not yield as good a financial return as in former years. Oals have realised fairly good pi-ices on the average. In wool, results have been excellent, with delightful prospects lying before nastora lists, whose flocks" this year have proved very profitable, both in life and death. Last season's wool realised very good prices, but did not reach the standard attained by the first of the vield this season. It is 'estimated that this season wool will add to the wealth of New Zealand one million pounds sterling more than last year-. Otago will take share of that great sum, probably onefourth.

Dairymen have, as a. rule, also prospered this yer..r, although an any of the factories sold their output" last year at a Ect- price. Buyers, however, must' have done remarkably well. It is believed that there lias been this year a. substantial increase in the dairy output. It would have been a great deal more if the summer had bwii more summerlike, but considering the wretchedness of the weather the results have been very satisfactory. Good prices have been obtained consistently for live stock to supply the demand for meat. Though it is true that prices have not always been as high as those obtained last week, the Average rates have been exceptionally ,gocd. For the bestfat cattle prices 'have ranged from £lO to £ls, and occasionally running to £l9: sheep have ranged from 12s to a.s high as 24s 3d: lambs up to 23k: pics have°al?o letched good prices, the best quality occasionally realising 655. It ifi stated that, merchants hnve not don© so well out of the sale of the products and stock mentioned as in former years, the margin of profit br;n" ~-,„<-], smaller. They have had to handle, great rina-nLitiss in order to obtain their avera' 1 -? financial returns. The bulk of the profit has gone to producers. Grumblinj has been very pleasantly combated this vcar. It has not bc-cn a. great year for'fruiterers, although prices have been high. Planters in the Islands nlnn* are mid "to have made fortunes out of the X-^.v'Zea-land fruit trade this year. Climatic eruditions in Australia. ' have affected the trade, also the hiah price* charged hv orchard ists in Tasmania and ether countries. When oranges are funn'.irrl at £1 per_ case and mandarins as'hid l , as 21s fruiterers are not makinsr much p-v:fit. In the City, trade has'been very goed aa whole, while in some branch".', (he results have far exceeded those in hvco-n? years. One importer of soft goods annuls that this year has been a record one fc r trade, his business having increased ny 25 per cent. It. has been discovered thai the people have learned to adapt their needs to climatic conditio;-.--. ' ] f weather bo iinsuitabln for the v.-enrinf; of what has • been described facetiously" lnmedical men as pneumonia, blouses! th> money _ that would have been spent in. sunnier circumstance?- crocs on iiivhsh overgarments, hats, or boots. It' has been noticed, too. that the number of u-m who take, an interest in the latest fashions .increases vapidly in Punedin. A business man aives it fls his opinion that one „f the greatest, proofs of prosperity in Dun-e-am j~ to see a crowd of about' 4 men and women at, say. a big football match rcpresentinj; in the clothes, foot and h-ad gear they wear an expenditure of £2O 000 Prosperity is revealed in the number of buildings erected or in course of construction, this year, and in the improvement ol the class of building. In the City and suburbs this venr over £"00 COO has been spent on buildings, which "sum is considerably in excess of the amount last year Several of these buildings have be<m erected to cop* wit!; the increasing commercial -business done, by the owners, there.-scope for a lUtlc t ovpr fact (hat tnero has not been a notable increase in the number of manufacturing concerns in the City. The men controlling public ahaire. .however, have not he=it->ted to demonstrate their belief in the" commercial soundness of the province and have sanctioned great expenditure on improving the harbor, the Citv. and the mental and spiritual status of the, people Ihe trade; m importg ]m noJ . , ; great this as it was lac-t year, there beinc a decrease of over 25.000 tens of «r oo dl from _ overseas. This decrease has been due largely to industrial deadlocks' at Home. It is impossible, however, to make an estimate anything like approaching the actual volume., for much cargo has "come m the form of transhipments from Australia..

As regards financial business we can only speculate. There has been some talkabout tightness in the monev market Moll, several merchants are inclined to believe that there was no necessity for any tightness at all. But it is a subject of rare delicacy, and is best left to bankers and those fortunate folk who know the ways of the financial world Ignorance of these matters is bliss, for if one lias no money one suffers'no tightness and fears no loss. It is not rashness to predict that although much money has been spent on ncressaries and luxuries and in charity (which attracts a wonderful expenditure in Otago) the banking returns, if one could see them and rejoice, wiil compare verv favorably with those of other vears. Though there is undoubtedly a great deal" of sheer extravagance in Otago, there 'is also much of the old Scotch belief that the man who has the merriest New Year is lie who has a "pickle siller laid by."

The Board of Governors of Canterbury College decided to establish a course in architecture, provided a satisfactory arrangement can be made. The board also decided, in connection with the public library, that in order to place the institution on a satisfactory basis the whole staff be given three months' notice, with the right to apply for future positions, and that applications bo called for the position of chief librarian at a salary of £3OO. The Hospital Board decided to make temporary arrangements for a dental ward. Out of every hundred of the population' in England and Wales, 7S jaer cant, live