NEW ZEALAND TRADE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume V, Issue 764, 3 April 1884, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND TRADE.

At a time when all classes are complaining of the scarcity of money, and of the difficulty of making both ends meet, questions of trade and trade prospects are regarded with far more interest than usual. So long as there is plenty of money going, few enquire from whence it comes or whither it goes; "the sun is shiniug — let us make hay the while " is then the cry ; but when clouds of depression overcast the commercial sky, then one and all want to know the why and the wherefore, and ask what it is that has damned up the channels of trade, depressed commerce, and checked speculation and enterprise. We have so often expressed our opinion that New Zealand is chiefly suffering from the effects of an increase in the value of gold, which has rendered it necessary for us as a community of borrowers to produce 30 to 40 lbs of wool, instead of 20 lbs in order to pay £1 of interest, to those from whom we have borrowed, and in like manner to send home nearly twice tbe quantity of wheat in order to net a. return equal to that of a few years ago — we have so frequently alluded to Una fact and emphasised it, that it seems almost superfluous to rt iterate it. But there is another and more hopeful side to this question. For instance, in the Australasian of the Bth March, New Zealand is mentioned as the colony which has especially distinguished herself as a wool-producer in the following flattering terms :—": — " But the most rapid progress is undoubtedly shown in the New Zealand imports. They began in 1848 at 567 bales, and in 1858 they had risen to 10,792. While it took South Australia 17 years to bridge the gulf between 10,000 and 50,000 bales, and New South Wales 15 years, the New Zealand imports reached 52,797 bales in seven years. Five years later, in 1870, her imports were 106,000 bales, and in 13 years they were again doubled, amounting in 1883 to 215,024 bales." The total imports of Australasian and Cape wool into the London market in 1888 amounted to 1,178,000 hales ; consequently New Zealand produced nearly one-fifth of the whole. Then, again, in the frozen meat trade we are not f.ir behind, as the following table will show, for which we are indebted to the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company's circular : —

Total, 268,396 carcases mutton ; 3,887 qrs. beef. Taking our late start, and also the difference in price in favor of New Zealand mutton, into consideration, — which latter is certainly equal to an average of }d per lb above the average realised for Australian mutton — it is quite clear that New Zealand has already taken a leading position iv this new trade. Owing to the bad harvest last year, complaints from London are numerous of New Zealand wheat arriving in bad condition, some of which was sold as low as 26/- per 49Glbs., a price which could not fail to bo ruinous to the shipper, being equal in round numbers to about 8/- per bushel. Such wheat is fortunately very different to the usual long-berried New Zealand wheat which commonly realizes a top price in the London market, and we look forward to a cessation of these complaints when this season's crop comes forward. The imports of New Zealand with London as compared with Australian and foreign wheats are sefc forth in the following table : — Into London. Austral. N.Z. Foreign Wheat. Wheat. Wheat. 1883 qvs. 73,184 277,914 3,595,591 1882 „ 188,845 240,840 3,180,689 1881 „ 164,632 236,244 2,921,576 Into United Kingdom. Foreign Foreign Austral. Wheat. Wheat. Wheat. 1883 qrs. 14,787,794 4,655,294 621,142 1882 „ 14,808,835 3,722,487 571,183 We are not advocates of wheat growiug for export, on the contrary we believe that it is probably a loosing game iv the long run, and that it is unlikely that we shall long continue to compete with India, Russia, and America in this industry. Nevertheless as showing the energy of our settlers and the fertility of the colony, the exports above enumerated deserve a line of recognition. Fortunately, New Zealand with an average yield of 28 bush, of wheat to the acre, as against 13 bush, to the acre in the United States, and 11 bush, in India, can afford to give her rivals some points in the game. The cheapness of bread in England now which is in part at least the result of the labors

of wheat growers throughout tbe world, will probably assist in making better markets for our meat and wool. "But as the bread-bill (says the Saturday Review) is the largest item in a workingclass household's expenditure, the cheapness of bread means that wages go farther than of former years, and, with two exceptions, the prices of nearly everything consumed by the working classes are also exceptionally low. The two exceptions, however, are very material — they are meat and rent." We j cannot help in the matter of rent, but as to meat we are quite ready and -willing to do so ; and by latest advices tbe prices for New Zealand mutton are improving. The depression m the colonies has been partly due to a tight money market in United States. Now it is said that in New York there is a prospect of recovery. In 1882 over 12,000 miles of railway were built iv the United States Last year the mileage constructed was only half as large. And in the current year it is estimated that less than 2000 miles will be built, and that no new line of any kind will be undertaken, the mileage now under construction being merely completion of work already far advanced. The Yankees have evidently put on the drag, and a period of overconstruction, and its attendant monetary evils has been followed by one of rest, so that now a more healthy finance may be expected to follow. The prospect of a rise in the wool market seems less certain. The latest agricultural returns of the United Kingdom show that on the sth June, 1883, there were sheep and iambs, as against 27,448,000 on the same date iv 1882. Thus there has been an increase of 900,000 in the year ; and the wool of these sheep will compete with New Zen land grown crossbred wool. From Bradford, however, we hear of an improvement in trade and increased prosperity. The Bradford Observer writes — " Although our population, which in 1881 had increased 20 per cent, in ten years, has since increased at an even greater ratio, as is evinced by the very few unoccupied cottages within the borough, there is rather a scarcity than an over supply of weavers. Not only within the borough, but in the outlying district, the same testimony is borne — 1 We could do more if we had hands to do it.' A clearer indication of improved trade and returning prosperity can scarcely be supplied. Thirty-five years ago one person in every 10 of the population of Bradford was in receipt of parochial relief; in 1875, the heyday of our prosperity, one iv 94 ; to-day, one 83. It only needs to weigh such facts, and to enter the homes of our operatives, and see the comforts, the refinements, the character of the furniture, decorations of the house, and compare them with the homes of ten or twenty years ago, to be completely assured that we have not yet begun to mark the permanent decay of either our town or its industry." Taking all the above cited facts into consideration, it would seem that the outlook is fairly encouraging, and tbafc even though the period of low prices ahows little likelihood of being cut short, unless or until there is an increase in the output of gold from the mines and diggings throughout the world, yet the long-continued and unexpected depression in trade shows signs of breaking up; when this happens times will certainly improve.

Australia. New Zealand. Carcases Mutton. Beef. Carcases Qrs. Mutton. Beef. I 1880 1881 1882, 1883 ■too 17,275 57,256 63,733 a quantity 1,373 1,033 753 1882 8,a39 — I 11883 120,893 728 138,66* 3,159 119,732 728