STATISTICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9369, 20 May 1889, Page 11

STATISTICS.

ENORMOUS INCREASE OF EXPORTS. The following are the returns of the value of imports and exports for the quarter ended 31st March : —The total imports for the colony were £1,721,988 as against £1,755,062 for the corresponding quarter of last year. The imports at the principal ports were :—Auckland, £298,551; Wellington, £230,155 ; Lyttelton, £209,700 ; Dunedin, £333,207. The total exports for the colony were £3,417,734 as against £2,983,650 for the corresponding quarter of last year. Auckland exported £293,171: Wellington, £387,917 ; Lyttelton, £741,734 ; Dunedin, £284,080. CUSTOMS' REVENUE.

The Customs' revenue collected for the month of April for the colony was £116,040. The following are the amounts received at the four principal ports: —Auckland, £26.940; Wellington, £22,023; Lyttelton, £19,520; Dunedin, £25,934. The beer duty amounted to £4622. Auckland contributed £961 ; Wellington, £517; Christchurch, £94,3 ; Dunedin, £1057. RAILWAY STATISTICS. The following are the details of railway traffic on the Government lines during the past financial year There were carried 3,132,803 passengers, or 309,047 fewer than in the previous year. Parcels, &c, numbered 399,706, or almost exactly the same as in the previous year (399,728). 919,319 live stock were conveyed, being 29,862 fewer than in the year before. There was also a decrease of 5941 tons in the wool carried (78,202 tons), but in grain and minerals there were large increases of 89,005 and 86,549 tons respectively ; and there were smaller increases in merchandise, timber, firewood, chaff, &c. The total goods traffic for the year amounted to 1,920,430 tons, or 184,669 in excess of last year's figures. There were increases in all branches of railway revenues, excepting passengers, parcels, and luggage. The total cost of the railways open up to the 31st March was £13,352,978 ; the net profits for the year are therefore at the rate of very nearly 2| per cent. AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS. According to returns published in the Gazette, comparing the estimated yield of agricultural produce this year with last, there are decreases this season of 653,813 bushels of wheat, 437S tons of potatoes, 29,211 tons of hay, 74,000 bushels of cocksfoot, and 298,280 bushels of ryegrass seed. There are increases of 464,946 bushels ol oats, and 641,663 bushels of barley. The quantity of last year's crop remaining on hand in February, when the forms were filled up, wa5310,092 bushels of wheat, and 109,014 bushels of oats. The number of holdings in the colony shows an increase of 1004, the total being 35,747, and the area under crop an increase of 54,682 acres. The area of grass-sown lands has also increased by 284,371 acres. To the tables of agricultural statistics published in the Gazette, the RegistrarGeneral attaches some general remarks. He says the extent of land in cultivation, including grass-sown land and land broken up, not in crop, but exclusive of gardens and orhards, in February, ISS9, amounted to 7,670,167 acres, against 7,284,752 in 1888, an increase of 305,415 acres. Sl-S7 per cent, of land was in artificial grass, against 81 '50 in 18S8 ; and 10 - 35 per cent. was in grain crops, against 10*14 per cent, in the previous year. The total area in grain crops amounted to 793,800 acres, of which 402,307 acres were in the Canterbury district, and 284,303 in Otago. The total average consumption of wheat in New Zealand lor a period of eleven years, 1877-87, amounted to S - 45 bushels per head of the population, including Maoris. This includes the requirements for seed purposes, estimated at two bushels per acre. The food consumption, after deducting the necessary quantity for seed, averaged 7 "38 bushels per head. Assuming that the area under wheat for the next harvest is about the same as at the last harvest, the wheat crop of ISS9, viz., 8,770,240 bushels, should give a surplus of 3,200,000 bushels for export after supplying all the requirements of the colony. In connection with this, it may be interesting to notice that the wheat crop in New South Wales was estimated at only 1,150,423 bushels in 1889, against 4,695,549 in ISBB, the yield per acre in 1889 being only 4 "74 bushels. This crop, therefore, is less than the quantity required for consumption in that colony by about 5,700,000 bushels. The land in hops was 563 acres, which yielded G2locwt., an average of ll.OScwt. to the acre. The land in tobacco is estimated to render 25,5001b. of dried leaf.

Besides the agricultural statistics, the following information as to the number of dairy cows was also obtained :—Auckland, 45,314; Taranaki, 23,569; Hawke's Bay, 9054; Wellington, 20,936; Marlborough, 2702 : Kelson, 7863 ; Westland, 1692 ; Canterbury, 29,065 ; Otago, 43,019 ; total, 189,214. The system of making ensilage for winter - keep appears to bo gaining ground in the colony, as the returns show •290 silos or ensilage stacks. The Wellington Times, on Saturday, May 11, says that either the reports of agriculturists and local bodies must be grossly exaggerated, or the RegistrarGeneral's figures must be untrustworthy. It should, however, be observed that the comparison is made between estimated yields of the past and the preceding year. At the same time it should be stated that the collectors had to send in their returns at an unduly early date, but from all parts of the colony intelligence is being received that the actual result is greatly in excess of the registrar's estimate. The same journal gives thefollowing instances :—• One man put down a large area of wheat, and estimated 22, bushels to the acre, bub the actual produce when threshed out and measured proved to be 45 bushels. Another calculated his crop, which was obviously a heavy one, at 40 bushels, but it turned out to be nearer 70. In fact experience proves that the actual yield this year has been from 20 to 50 per cent, more than growers' estimates before threshing. From careful inquiries which we have made we are convinced that the New Zealand wheat crop of ISB9 is fully 10,000,000 bushels, if, indeed, it does not materially exceed that quantity, which we believe will prove to be the case. If we are right in this view, which is endorsed by some very capable judges, the amount of wheat available for export instead of being 3,200,000 bushels, as reekone. by the Registrar-General, is more like foui and a-half ' million bushels. A better moda of collecting agricultural statistics is manifestly imperative if they are to possess an# practical use.