The Hawera Star FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1928. DOMINION TRADE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 18 May 1928, Page 4

The Hawera Star

FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1928. DOMINION TRADE.

Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock In uawera. Manair.. Normanby. Okaiawa. Eltham. Mangatoki. Kaponga. Alton, Hurleyville Patea. Waverlev. Mokoia, Whakamara. Ohangai, Meremere, Fraser Road. and Ararata.

The latest, official figures relating to the overseas trade of the Dominion are distinctly encouraging. The first few months of the year see our exports reach their peak, while imports, ns a rule, are not particularly heavy, but /the expansion of exports shown this year has been remarkable. While the improved price level for wool has been the chief contributing factory in the advance recorded —in the first quarter we exported wool valued at £10,022,517 against £0,292,876 in the corresponding period of last year—other items have contributed 'to swell the excess of exports, indicating that there has been a general increase in production. For instance, in the first quarter of this year the Dominion shipped abroad butter to the value of £4,380,492, a total nearly one million sterling greater than that of the first quarter of 1927. Cheese showed an increase in value of over £500,000, lamb nearly £500,000, mutton an advance of £35,000, pork £33,000, and beef the marked increase of £220,000. These are our principal items of export, and the returns show that in every case there has 'been an increase in the quantity shipped, proving that the improved figures have not been solely due to enhanced values. The after-effects of the prolonged dry spell experienced in the dairying districts may have the effect of I reducing later shipments, but, making ;duc allowance for that possibility, the returns for the producing year ending June 30 should establish a record for the Dominion in this important branch of primary production. One of the most cheering items of the returns is the surprising growth in the beef export trade. During the Alarch quarter the country exported 182,601 cwt. frozen beef, against only 35,601 cwt. in the corresponding period of last year. The result has been a demand for cattle in the North Island, particularly on the East Coast. This demand has been encouraged by the fact that the autumn has been exceptionally mild and that there is an abundance of feed for the stock. ATen whoso duties take them to practically every corner of the Dominion state that they have seldom seen the country looking better, and there is a feeling of optimism with regard to the future. AVe have seen in this district indications of a revival of interest in primary production. Handy-sized farms in good localities are, according to the agents, being sought by experienced farmers, and with values back to something like an economically sound level there would seem very good grounds for the growing opinion that the province, in common with the rest of the Dominion, may anticipate a continuance of the more solid prosperity which has been ushered in this year. It 'has been predicted with confidence by business men who, though not associated with banking, keep in close touch with the money market, that a reduction will be made in the bank rate shortly, and though the banks have given no indication that such an opinion coincides with their own intentions, the increased quantity of our primary products and the higher prices they have realised encourage the belief so freely expressed that loan money will become cheaper. A drop in the interest rate is not necessarily, of course, an unmixed blessing unless it is accompanied by sound judgment on the part of borrowers and investors. New Zealand has had sufficient, experience, of booms and their aftermath to satisfy her nationally for a long time. If the individual feels similarly about it our future development will proceed along sounder lines, 'and the farmer for his part will take productive value and world’s markets into consideration when assessing the price of land.