The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 1910. IMPORTS.

Southland Times, Issue 14437, 7 June 1910, Page 4

The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 1910. IMPORTS.

Some very interesting details of the imports of the last five years are contained in the last number of the New Zealand Trade Review. They have been compiled from proof sheets courteously placed at the disposal of the Review by the Government siatistical office in Wellington, and they give information that will not be available otherwise until the publications of that office are officially circulated. It is a matter of common knowledge that the importations of merchandise for 1909 were on a much smaller scale than those for 1908, but though there was a reduction the figures raise a doubt whether it was sufficiently large. The increase between the years 1905 and 3 DOS was so enormous that a diminution even more marked than that which actually occurred in 1909 would have been justified. The totals of all imports,' apart from specie, compared as follows for the last live years; 1905 n 2, 165.622 1906 £14,297,073 1 907 £16,533.5-15 190S £1 7,232,422 1909 £14,806,481 It is clear from these figures that in 1900, 1907, and 190S there was a very heavy excess of importations over and above the actual requirements of the people. As 1905 was probably a fair average year so far as trade was concerned, it may he calculated that after allowing for a reasonable Increase of population and consumption, importations to the value of £14,000,000 should have met all requirements in 1906 and the two following years. In these years there was, therefore, an aggregate excess of at least £6,000,000, so that a falling off In 1909 of £4,000,000 or £5.000 000 would

not have been surprising. The actual falling off was nearly £2,500,000, but even then the value of importations was in excess of the value for 1906, when prosperity was at its height. The drop in 1909 affected all classes of goods. The principal lines of imports are soft goods, metals and metal goods, and miscellaneous manufactures. In soft goods the decrease as compared with 1908 was £451,346, equal to 11 per cent, but the imports were in excess of those for 1906, the figures for each year being : 1909, £3,649,409 ; 1906, £3,550,509. Every branch of the soft goods trade was affected, and even boots and shoes showed a decrease of £28,549 in the year. A noticeable feature of the soft goods trade is that imports from places outside of the United Kipgdom are steadily falling off. In 1906 the imports from the United States of America were valued at £56,150 ; last year they were worth only £18,550. Similarly imports from Canada, Australia, and other places disclose reductions of from 75 per cent, to k SO per cent. In metals and metal goods the falling off in 1909 was very heavy, amounting to £769,611, or over 21 per cent. Every line of trade shows a decrease except sewing machines. In hardware, ironmongery, etc., the decrease is over 37 per cent. ; iron pipes 25% per cent.; iron wire and netting 31 per cent. ; tools and implements 36% per cent. The imports of machinery were less in every line except dairy machinery than in 1908. The value of dairy machinery imported last year was £41,983, as against £35,624 in 1908, and the increase in this line bears testimony to the fact that the expansion of the dairying industry in all parts of the Dominion was not checked by fhe depression of 1909. With regard to miscellaneous manufactures, in 1909 the decrease in importations reached the large sum of £595,134, equal to 16 per cent. In nearly every line the figures disclosed shortages, the heaviest being in carriages, carts, earthenware and china, fancy goods, furniture, glassware, musical instruments and motor cars. The statistics demonstrate that in nearly every branch of business traders overstocked heavily in 1907 and 1908. Even had there been no check in the prosperity of the people it is probable that traders would have been compelled to reduce their orders to get rid of their surplus, but when the purchasing power of the community was reduced by the universal depression the extent of the surplus was even more clearly realised. Hence the heavy fall of £2,500,000 in the value of imports of 1909. Still, as \ye have said, it is almost a matter for surprise; in view of the excessive importations of the preceding years, that the fall in 1909 was not heavier.