TRADE IN VICTORIA IN 1873 AND 1863.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4229, 9 October 1874, Page 3

TRADE IN VICTORIA IN 1873 AND 1863.

fFrom the Melbourne Argus.) A comparison of the exports of articles of Victorian manufacture in the years 1863 and 1873 respectively, serves to show that in some items at least there has been a considerable falling off. At the former period, the population of the Colony was only 534,000, as against nearly 800,000 at the latter ; but we had a free-trade tariff in operation in 1863, whereas in 1873 our chief industries are suffering from the incubus of protection. We subjoin some of the more important of the items referred to :

Thus upon the ten articles of export enumerated above there was a decrease in 1873 of £114,564 as compared with 1863. But if we examine the total exports of commodities which were produced or manufactured in the' Colony during the ten years we have selected for comparison, we shall find that 1 the producing power of our population is smaller per capite under protection than it was under free trade, as will be seen by the following figures : Exports, purely Victorian, in 1863, £9,597,400,

or £l7 19s. sd. per head. Exports, purely Victorian, in 1873, £11,967,707, or £ls 7s. Id. per head. Tn making this calculation we have taken the population in the latter year at 780,000. Similarly unsatisfactory results axe brought out when we come to test the consuming power of the people as exhibited by the imports. These were as follows ;

Imports in 1863, £14,118,727, or £26 Bs. 9d. per head. Imports in 1873, £16,533,856, or £2l 3s. lid. per head. But it may be said that, in spite of these figures, we were better off in 1873 than we were ten years ago. . And, in confirmation of this assertion, we may be assured that we are importing more kid gloves, lace handkerchiefs, silk dresses, Parisian jewellery, and costly books than ever we did. All this may be perfectly true ; but we do not think that an increased consumption of kid gloves is any satisfactory evidence of the prosperous condition of—let us say—seven-eighths of our population, who contrive to dispense with these articles of wearing apparel; or that a larger demand for European jewellery is conclusive as to more than tHs—that protection makes the rich richer.

— 1873. 1863. Building Materials £ 730 £ 2,348 Candles ... ... ... 1,130 2,775 6,443 Carriages... 20,884 Carriages and Cart Materials 1,569 1,803 Dings and Druggists’ Ware 2,259 7,860 Furniture 9,307 16,077 Hardware and Ironmongery 1,176 2,034 Oilmen’s Stores ... 534 -1,938 Saddlery and Harness ... 3,444 9,985 Flour : ... 51,228' 119,344 Total 74,152 188,716