DOMINION TRADE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 4 February 1925, Page 4

DOMINION TRADE.

FIGURES FOP LAST YEAR. HEALTHY TONE REVEALED. Further'details of New Zealand's overseas trade for 1924 are made available below. The exports totalled £52,612,711, an increase of •£6,645,592 over the previous year. This is the highest volume of export trade, with the exception of 1919. The imports totalled £48,527,603, an increase of £5,041,049. The statistics of the • year show that the balance of trade has now returned to normal, the excess of exports being £4,085,108, or about nine per cent, greater than the imports. The export trade for the year 1924 shows an increase, of 14 per cent. Dairy produce ixicreased by 6 per cent. There was a. slight increase in meat exports, beef and lamb showing a small, falling-off. Wool increased from £10,904,658 to £15,267,364, which is the largest total recorded for the staple, with the exception of 1919, when it was nearly 20- millions. There were satisfactory increases in sausageskins. sheep-skins, phormium tenax, while coal, ka.uri gum, gold and silver showed a falling-off, timber and tallow being normal with the previous year. The imports increased by 12 per cent. Motor vehicles showed the greatest relative increase, the value being nearly 50 per cent, higher than 1923. A similar rise was recorded in imports of timber, motor .spirit, electrical machinery, printing paper, and musical instruments.- With these exception® and that of wheat, the import value of which was over a million, compared with £69 in 1923, there is clear evidence that the import boom ha,s at last come to an, end. There were increases in sugar, tea, cigarettes, coal, hardware, silk goods, galvanised iron, while there was a falling-off in confectionery, whisky, wines, boots and shoes, hats and caps, hosiery, millinery, floor coverings, drapery, cotton goods, woollen, goods, sewing thread®, iron and steel. The main items were normal.

A comparison of the trade returns for the past five years follows:

t Excess of Imports. The principal items of the import trade were published in yesterday's Star. Appended is, the lull list of the exports, with comparative values for the preceding year :

Some idea, of the extent to which we sell, to the AlotherJiand without buying from her is conveyed by the list of countries involved in trade with the Dominion, as follows-.—,■

Excess of Year. Imports. Exports. exports. 1920 61,595,828 40,441,946 +15,153,882 1921 42,942,443 44,828,827 1,886,384 1922 35,005,440 42,726,249 7,720,809 1923 43,486,544 45,967,119 2,480,575 1924 48,527,603 52.612,711 4,085,108

Butter 1924 £: 11,641,688 1923. £ : 10,689,200 Cheese 7,023,297 6,870,397. • Casein 129,775 182,112 Milk and creain 505,098 513,495 Dairy produce 19,299,858 IS,255,204 Beef 802,157 891.899 Lamb 5,941,746 6,033,171 Mutton 2,539,233 223,1*14 1,882,407 Other 205,143 Frozen meat 9,506,240 9,012,720 Sausage skins . 563.887 427,387 Tallow 799,230 785,668 ° Hides and skins- — Cattle & calf 825,129 746,477 Sheep, . with wool 317,588 . 225,S84 Belts P, 195,889' 895,881 Wool 15,267,364 10,904,658 Phormium tenax 388,324 314,324 Coal 161,432 173,833 Kauri gum 443,576 596,222 Gold 551,788 698,582 Silver 71,981 62,851 Timber, sawn . 472,033 , 473,562 Total exports £52,612,711 £45,967,119

* • . .• Exports. Imports. £ £ United Kingdom 42,038,338 23,068,282 Ceylon 1,111 837,506 India 495,850 741,217 Straits Settlements 17,714 77,270 South Africa 28,585 89,295 Canada 716,543 3.973,639 Australia 2,509,322 5.651,027 Fiji 135,768 970,393 Tonga 92,000 1.489 Western Samoa . 82.841 6,140 Total British .. 44,146,051 35,801,311 Belgium 107,199 273,271 Denmark 313 104,623 France 561,569 759.240 Germany 1.166:302 292,058 Italy 401.764 236,286 Netherlands 261.759 193,753 Norway 28 69,660 Sweden 4,41S 269.016 Switzerland 786 436,89S China 22,652 117.966 Dutch East Indies 8,085 1,080.200 Japan 330.736 496,835 United States 3.278.135 7.788,293 Hawaii 1..... 170,222 2.335 Society Islands .. 67,227 7,393 Total foreign .. 8,466,660 12,726,292 Grand total 52.612.711 48,527.603