OUR EXPORTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2203, 21 May 1896, Page 22

OUR EXPORTS.

Tbe exports for the March quarter an fcfia largest we have seen for soms years, end amount to £4,325,182. For the past tout years they compare as follows, dsdncfcinfr specie in each case : — March Quarter. 1895. 185)5. 1891 ' 189.7. £4,325,182 £3,5f«,353 £4,004,709 £3,635,79J Taking the financial year 1895-6, as corny pared with that of 1891 5, the figures com* out as follow: — June quarter, June quarter, 1895 ...£1,859,813 1891 ...£I,m,2ST Sept. quarter, Sept. .quarter, 1895 ... 1,305,623 1894 ... 1,285.!)6« Dec. quarter, " Dec quarter, 1895 ... 1,794,609 1894 ... 1,948,778 March quar- March quarter, 189(5 ... 4,325,182 ter, 1895 ... 3,564,353 £9,285,227 £8,789,334 The calendar year 1895 showed a defied cy, compared with the corresponding year 18 9 1, of £695,380; bat we showed in our last; return that this was largely due to shore shipments of wool in tae December quarter, " amounting to £365,105, or, in other words', that the shipments were later this year than last, as the presant return fulty bears out. The quarter's iaor«asiia as compared with sataß quarter last y<yar ara aa fallow : — Gold, £33.878 (£301,503— £287.625) ;. kuuri gum, £Z6SO (£1076 53- £104.972); timber, £5112 (£3B 290 -£33,178); frozen meats, £48,841 (£439',2»5 — £390,454); sheepskins, £2425 (£45,209— £42,784) ; wool no less, than £G38 r 332.(£2.829,294 -£2,190.902), and deducting from tlr's th» deficiency of £365,105 in, the December qajtrter, we have aa average of £273,287, which is very satisfactory. There is also aa increase in butter of £14,241 (£141,2L7— £126,976). Agricultural products— mainlj oats, wheat, and seeds — alsd < shovr the considerable increase of £4-1,367 (£l21 155 - £76,788), and manufacture-* aa increnae oi £6217 (£59,685 -£53.4:68). The increase, in gol'l ia not so large as might have- been expected, the two pravious quarter/) showing an increase of nearly a quarter of a million,, but as the new stamps get to work, roturns moat rise rapidly. Tha decreasas ara only in cheese, £19,114 (£61,804— £80 918).; rj.bbu,«kins, £9332 £10 047 ~-£i9,379); and tall w, £7282 (£65,9i2-£76-22i). Everything sceina to indicate tbat with an increased output of gold and wool aud larger exports of agricultural products the year will show up well, and it will probably approach our highest figures. The imports do not respond to tha exports as might havo been expected, tha q>ji*riw f H,retufn being £1,712 52*? a? against £1,755,672 for the corresponding q-iarter of last yeiir ; but Daaedln shows np gresry well, the decline for oar pert being only £9005 ; whils Wellington *ehsws a fieclLa® ot £106,000, Auckland aa icczea&a oi £^000^ and Lyttclfcoa aa iscrcsFa o£ £4O!QG<3I