The New Zealand Herald AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1865.

New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 498, 17 June 1865, Page 4

The New Zealand Herald

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1865.

dPrCTEMUa AGKXDO. " Give ovory man thino fcut fetr '.by voicc: Tnke each num'tj c.onHuro, but retire ihy judgment, Triit. above till, —To thine owiinsU bo truo; Ami it muii'i icllow, as the night the Thou cioibV not then bo falso to any man.®®

EXPORTS AND IMPORTS. "We have, from time to iime. referred to the very important subject of tlie shite of our exports and imports, .-ound views are not very prevalent on this matter, even among persons well informed on other topics. As the subject is one of the greatest interest: and importance to us, and as it has latterly been descanted upon with a hazy prolixity which threw quite a thick fog arouud it, and made it "as clear as mud" to the meanest understanding, we again revert to it, and will be as concise and clear as we can. That our excess of imports over exports is a cause of congratulation is 'rue, under certain conditions ; but under other conditions such an excess is to be looked upon as a disadvantage. Thus if produce worth £1000 in Auckland, when exported thence, is sold in a foreign port, and the proceeds expended in purchasing goods to export to Auckland, and the value of the latter when imported here is £2000 say, then it is quite clear that Auckland's large import is a gain and not a loss, for it is paid for by goods which were

only' half the value when they left here, of those wo have got in exchange. If we could increase our imports in this legitimate manner, then the larger the imports the better off' we should be, for we should be' selling a larger quantity of goods of our own production at a profit, and v e should thus stimulate cominercc and agriculture to a very large extent. But herein lies the gist of the whole question, How do we pay for our imports ? If by goods chiefly or mainly, then we may congratulate ourselves on the circumstance, but if not, it is quite e\ident that we ought to look the matter boldly in the face, and do our utmost to bring about a more healthy state of things, either, first, by increasing our exports to pay for the imports, or by producing more and more within ourselves those articles which by good management we could very easily produce, and so lessen the excess of imports over exports as much as possible, in so far as the former are paid for by cash. We find from tho latest statistics published—those of IS63 —that the exports from the port of Auckland amounted in that year to £195,225, and the imports to £959,219. Now, in the ordinary course of things, the imports should have been paid for, or pretty nearly so, by the exports. But it cannot for one moment be pretended that this was done ; but yet the imported articles had to be paid for either in goods or money, and if not in goods, then of necessity in money, no matter whether we call that money drafts, Treasury bills, or by any other name we choose. The capital then which we have to use to pay foreign producers tor articles which we import, is so much capital abstracted from the circulation of the province, and wo have so much less money to spend in paying the farmers, tradesmen, laborers, and merchants among us. Our capacity for giving remunerative and reproductive employment is, in fact, reduced by the amount we send to pay the laborers, the merchants, the .artisans, and tradesmen of England, California, and Australia, for the goods we import thence, and which we have to pay for in cash.

11l the statistics to winch we have before referred the imports from the Mauritius are put clown at £11,500, and there are 110 exports at all mentioned as being sent from Auckland to the Mauritius. But we presume the £11,500 worth of sugar or whatever it was wc imported had to be paid for. This was apparently not done in goods, and we are driven to the conclusion that it must have been done in money, which was of course in reality withdrawn from circulation in Auckland. lience the importance of such an operation as that chronicled by us the other day of Messrs. Henderson and Macfarlane, who have just imported a cargo of sugar from the Mauritius which was paid for by timber produced in the Province, instead of by money abstracted from its capital. Jf the latter had been sent away iu payment, it would have remained away, but the amount of money expended among our own workmen and tradesmen in procuring the timber given in exchange for the sugar re mains in the colony, circulating from hand to hand over and over again, and enabling us to give so much more profitable employment to a large number of persons and to enlarge a healthy trade. Hence a firm engaging in such a trade are great public benefactors, and deserve every possible encouragement in their endeavour to exchange the produce of Auckland for that of other countries.

Take also the case of England and Auckland. Oar imports from there in 18G3 were £o(jl.,01S, and our exports in return £12,855. No one will pretend to say that the latter paid for the former. Cash in some shape or other had to .supplement the payment of goods, and could we have produced and exported a larger quantity of the latter, say to the extent, of £100,000 more even, we should ha-ve retained that amount to pay those engaged in the production of the exported articles, and our stability and prosperity would have been all the firmer and greater by this amount being thus paid to persons in this province. Coal again affords another apt illustratration at the present moment. We import more coal than we pay for in exported goods ; but if the authorities bestir themselves and \vc can employ men at "Wangarei and the Bay of Islands to get and supply us with coal, they will surely be better customers to us than are the colliers and colliery owners of Newcastle. Instead of sending our money to circulate among the latter, we shall retain it among ourselves and extend our own trade and enlarge the acres of cultivated land in proportion. And if wo could get coal enough to export in exchange for imports we should of course be still greater gainers.

The analogy that has been attempted to be drawn between Auckland and England, and Auckland and the United States, completely fails. There is 110 such analogy between the respective operations of these countries and Auckland. Thus, the exports of England in ISSS were £139,-113,123, and her'.imports, £1G:},795,503. The imports then were onesixth part only more than her exports. The imports of Auckland, for ISG3, were live times more altogether than her exports, (roods to the value of £1 3s. Gd. were imported into England for every twenty shillings worth of goods exported. Taking the case of England then as a criterion, by which to judge of what we ought to have exported in 1563, as compared with our imports, those exports ought to have been £1580,593, instead of £193,225. The case of the United States is this. In ISSB, her exports were 324,641.000 dols.,and her imports 282,013,000 dols.,or less than her exports. The analogy is by no means so, complete as it was asserted, but tells against, rather than for, the arguments used on a recent occasion. To make the analogy comr'V.'lc, we should be able to show that England pays for Ihe broadstuffs and other articles which she imports by her manufactured goods, so does Auckland pay by goods of some sort for the tlour and beef which she imports, and as respects America, that while the latter imports very largely of woollens, cottons, hardware and other manufactured articles, she pays for these things with her flour, grain, bacon, tobacco, sugar, and other productions of her fields. If we would open our eyes and stare the facts broadly in the face instead of shutting them out of sight, or persuading ourselves that they are fictions and not facts, then we should earnestly

strive to do that which is out bounden duty to do, viz., to increase our producing power and capacity .as much as And the* .first step in that directioDris-to,give earnest 'attention to the opening up of the country by means of roads and bridges,. and so making it possible both si fc>r settlera to go upon their lands, and also to. profitably cultivate them.. As we have long ago insisted upon, the land is our great source of wealth, and by bati management and a want ox appreciation of facts and laws of trade which, no effort of ours can alter, we do as little as possible to turn that wealth to account. Albertland is simply a picture that may be seen in every district. Thousands of acres ini"ht at this moment have been under cultivation which now lie waste through had. management, and money sent to pay the formers of other countries might have been paid to those of our own. It would be true wisdom to give the waste land away to any one that would cultivate it no matter whence he came, or whether he had a lainl order or not, rather than have it lie in its waste and useless state. Then it would give employment and produce food, laying also a good foundation for permanent and lasting prosperity. The neglect of road making, and our bad land laws are great, and most mischievous blunders. Better times seem dawning upon us, juding by the recent energetic action of the Superintendent. "We need not reiterate what we said on a former occasion, that the state of the exports and imports, as respects Auckland and England, proves clearly that the Commissariat expenditure has been to an enormous extcntpaidfor by English goods, our profits on which have been very small indeed. Had England sent supplies to the troops direct from England as she sent her cannon and ammunition, we should have lost little more than the commission and charges on the sale and removal of the goods, except in some few cases.