The Taranaki Herald. DAILY EVENING. SATURDAY, MAY 1, 1915. DOMINION EXPORTS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144669, 1 May 1915, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. DAILY EVENING. SATURDAY, MAY 1, 1915. DOMINION EXPORTS.

The value of exports from tbe | Dominion during the twelve months endec], March last reached figures which are, almost phenomenal when compared with previous years. The total apart from specie and re-exports is estimated at .£‘27,163,947, which is four millions more than in the previous twelve months and over eight millions in excess of the figure? for 1911-12. But even this large total probably does not show the true values, for wool is estimated as worth on the average no more than 11.12 d per lb., butter only 110 s 8d per ewt., and cheese only 61s per cwt. The New Zealand Trade Review-, from which we quote, points out that at the first sales this season lid was reached for coarse crossbreds, and in March 14d to 15d was realised for this class of wool, while super crossbreds fetched up to-17d, and even crutchiugs sold from 9d to 113 d. It thinks the valuation somewhat low, and another penny would add nearly i‘700,000 to (he value of the exports of the last six months. Then London values of butter this season have ranged from 126 s to 14Ss, which would give tbe producer from 12]d to 14 Ul, while the official estimate is only 11 4cl. Cheese opened in Loudon at about 76? ami rose to 945, and the 76s would mean over 64s f.o.b. here, so that 72s seems nearer the correct average value than 61s. If the averages named i by the Review are taken a sum 1 of nearly one and a half millions must be added to the total ex- ! ports, bringing -them to over £28,600,000, which is fully fifty per cent, more than the total three years ago. This, too, in spile of the fact that the export of gold has been prohibited for several months, so that the exports from this source were more than a million less than throe years ago. Of course the increase is chiefly attributable to the higher prices realised, especially for wool, meat and dairy produce, but it is satisfactory to find a marked increase in the volume of exports as well as in values. It is very difficult, almost impossible indeed, to estimate with anything like accuracy what the increased volume of production is, because of the, overlapping of the seasons when the twelve-monthly period from April to March is taken. A late or an early season affects the figures one way or the other, while there is also the shipping factor to be taken into consideration. Two or throe steamers leaving just after March 31 may unduly swell the figures for the new period and reduce them for the period to which they rightly belong. However, while the figures for the period April, 1914, to March, 1915, show a large increase in the quantity of wool and frozen meat exported and a fair increase also in the dairy produce, the figures for the latter half of the period afford a more reliable criterion as to the progress we are making in actual production for export. Wool and frozen meat show up remarkably well. The quantity of wool exported in the sis months ended March last, was 27

(per cent, greater tban iu tlie corresponding period of tlie previous year, vriiile 1 tile increased volume of mea<t exports was even greater, being very nearly forty per cent. Of course it may be that our flocks and herds have been somewhat depleted this year, but on the other hand there is an unusually great accumulation of meat in the freezing works awaiting shipment, so that had the shipping facilities been normal this year the exports would have been even greater. The weight of butter and cheese exported this season is very slightly greater than last season, the increased weight of butter being just over 1 per cent, and of cheese 2t per cent, in the six months. The comparison would have been more favourable perhaps if the shipments hod not been delayed this year. The outstanding fact in connection with the exports for the past twelve months is .that their greater values and greater volume have combined with lighter imports to improve the position of (he Dominion v“ry materially with regard to its foreign indebtedness. They show conclusively that the Dominion is in a thoroughly sound position a id could, if it chose, in a few years bring its foreign debt down to very moderate figures by excess of exports over imports.