THE TRADE STATISTICS OF THE COLONY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LI, Issue 5598, 3 February 1879, Page 5

THE TRADE STATISTICS OF THE COLONY.

(From the Otago Daily Timet) The fasts which we published yesterday re* garding the relative position of Dunedin as compared with other ports in New Zealand in point of progressive trade, have been variously commented upon in business circles. It seems undeniable that the ports of Lyttelton, Wellington and Auckland hare been increasing in their importing business lately at a rapid rate; but when wo come to make comparisons, a considerable number- of cir* cumstances must be takes into account. It 18 generally conceded that the imports of the past year hare been on too large a scale t and as the payment of duty on any article does not always mean its immediate consumption, inasmuch as a large amount of duty is often paid on comparatively unsaleable stock, wluchis nevertheless of such a character that it does not pay to put it into bondit is quite possible, therefore, that part of the apparent increase of business in Contarbuiw. for mstance, is simply the result of over-stocks, which do not prevail to the same extent here. The general testimony is that it is easier to make sales m Dunedin than at any of the other places, although it is admitted that in many items our stocks are heavy. Let us compare the increase of import* for the past year to the four principal ports, accordinTto the return furnished to us by telegram yesterday from Wellington. The figures stand

Excess, Sr "I®S *» £££-;:; r. SS iSS gS§ _ It seems evident from the above that if Dunedin has sinned in the way of over importing, Canterbury has sinned far more, for her import trade has increased by about 60 per cent in the year, and no one dream that such an increase is justified by the actual increase of consumption. The Dunedin increase is little more than 20 per have no doubt that the large and exceptional importations of reapers and binders have had something to do with the figures for Canterbury 5 but even making an allowance of £200,000 for these, the jump is still very sudden. There is therefore ground to believe that we are at least sounder, if more conservative, in our mercantile transactions. Then there is the fact fcW. several large Dunedin businesses have opened branches in Christchurch, and to some extent are doubtless now supplying those branches direct instead of serving *hpjr Canterbury customers through Dunedin. But after making every allowance, and fadh'ng comfort to ourselves from the fact that om neighbours have been over-trading to a greater extent than we ourselves have, wo cannot but confess that we must look to increased competition, and either lay our account for a diminished rate of progress, or else, by pushing on our harbour works and railways, we must seek to retain our hold on both the import and export trade. One of the secrets of the progress of Canterbury in imports is that she has greatly increased her production and exports, until she has for two years gone ahead of Dunedin. There are signs, however, that we are beginning to take tip the running again in this respect; as, while Canterbury exports diminished from £1,866,418 in 1877 to £1,713,874 in 1878, Dunedin exports for the same period only decreased from £1,635,770 to £1,619,954. We have no doubt the general decrease in exports is partly due to _ the reductions in the prices of wool and grain which took place last year j but it also appears, if our telegram is correct, font the wool export of the Colony actually decreased in quantity as well as in value last year, and we know that gold has fallen off considerably, especially in Auckland. When the full details reach us we shall be better able to arrive at a conclusion as to where the chief causes of the reduction in the wool export lie. We may hazard the conjecture that the rabbit in Southland has to answer for a good deal of it, and this year we fear the ravages of this pest, combined with the bad winter and spring, will tell still more heavily on that district.