The Wanganui Chronicle AND Patea-Rangitikai Advertiser, "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 1900. TWO PERIODS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 15000, 20 June 1900, Page 2

The Wanganui Chronicle AND Patea-Rangitikai Advertiser, "NULLA DIES SINE LINE A." WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 1900. TWO PERIODS.

Recently the Registrar-General issued a very interesting table comprising a number of statistical comparisons denoting the progress which New Zealand has made botween the years 1890 and 1899. It is, of course, obvious that the prosperity of a country docs not depend on government or legislation ; but it has become the custom for the reigning party to take credit for the sun that'shines' and the rain that falls, and several Government journals have,tlerefore, duly laid claim on behalf of the Scddom'an party, for the progress denoted j in the statistical return under notice.. We have been told that this progress has beep j due to the Liberal Government, and we havo been asked to believe that prior to the advent of that Government progress and prosperity were things unknown to this colony. This, as the Christchurch Press points out, is an utter fallacy. "We have," says our southern contemporary," only to take the figures for the previous nine years, that is to say, from 1881-90, to find that iho progress then made in all essential respects waa even greater than during the succeeding nine years. . From 1801-90, w. '■ need hardly remind our readers the so called Conservative administrations under {?!r John Hall, Sir Frederic Whitaker, and Sir H. A. Atkinson were in power, except £-.r throe years when the Stout- Vogel Min-. istry, whom the Radicals of to-day also class as Conservatives, .held the -.reins. Let us take ottt' pnd- examine some of the fgureg. They ara very gratifying, we think, to every well-wisher of the colony, no matter to what side in politics he may belong. , Between 1890 and 1899 tho European population grow from 626,658 to 756,505, being at tho ivtte or 20.72 per cent. ' Ir 1883, when we had to pull in and economise after the Vogelian regime, and thert ' svas a great stoppage of public works, the so-called exodus to Australia took: place. ' ,Yet, in spite of this the population between 1881 and 1890 ' grew .at a' greater • rate than it did during the succeeding nine years.'', The total rose from 500,910 to 626,658,' being a centesimal increase oi about 25 as against- 20.72 during the folic wing nine years. Our im/J-s oetween ' 1881 and 1890 showed a considerable fail mg ofi, from £7,457,045 to £5,928,895.' This simply meant that, in pursuance ol the policy of retrenchment, ne were not boi rowing so mucb money from abroad, ' and were endeavouring to in ; tke both ends meet and.t o live on . our own resources. Between 1890 and 1899 the iinpoits rose from £5,928,895 to £8,613,65.j, or 45.28 per cent. This. item. of tho imparts is the ; one- solitary, instance in which the statis- ;' tira for 188P -and 1890 respectively show a falling-oft, of. 'indeed, anything but a eon- . sidurable improvement. In the case of a ' producing country liko - this everyone will admit that a growth in the exports is the great proof of development. Between 1890-99 the exports, the produce of the ■ colony,' increased -- from £9,569,316 to £11,---799,740, or 25.15 per cent.- This is fairly ; gratifying, but - it is nothing to what took place in the previous nine years. Then the exports gave a great bound from £5,---762,250 to £9,428,760, an increase of about 65 per cent. Wool, Our staple product,.increased from 102,817,0771bs in 1891 to 147,169,4971 b, or 43.14 per cent. - , in 1899." The increase in the export during the previous nine years waa 16 per cent. In the matter of weight, 'and if Aye take the value the comparison is still more in favour ot the earlier period. The value of the wool exported in the three selected years was a* follows:— 1881, £2,209,760; 1890, £4,150,599; -1899, £4,324,627. This works out to 42 per cent, improvement duiing the earlier nine years, and only 4.19 per cent, during the latter. The frozen meat trade was not started in 1881, but by 1890 our exports under this head were valued at £1,087,617, and in 1899 at £2,088,856. The export of butter does not figure in thestatistics of 1881 ; in 1890 it was valued at £122,701, and in 1899 at £571,799, showing an increase of no less than 366 per tent. Tbe output of coal wad 337,2612 tons in 1881; in 1890 it hud nearly doubled, being 6j7,39'" tons, and in 1899 it was 975,234 ton*, being an increase of about 53 per rent. Th'; output of gold fell oif uliglitly t'roin £996,567 lo £773,438) in the fiist nine yei.rs, and thanks mainly to the cyanide pi ocess and -dredging nearly doubled during fhe .second nine years, the value of that exported last year being £1,513,---180." These figures are very interesting, very instructive, but our contemporary goo., further, and takes the -relative areas of land brought under cultivation, which, it says, "our Liberal friends, we feel sure, will agree is 'a crucial test to apply to the two periods when wo are seeking to compare their relative development- Between 1890 and 1899 we did well in this respect, but between 1881 and 1890 we did even ■ btttcr. The area of land in cultivation in 1881 was 4,768,192 acres ; in 1890 it was--8,015,426 acres, an increase of nearly 70 per cent., and last year it was 12,474,511, a further increase of 55.63 per cent. When : we turn to our flocks we find that so far | from tbeir being stationary during a Con- '• servataive administration, they seem to havo increased and multiplied even faster tban they do now. Our sheep, at any rate, increased over 24 per cent, during tho first nine years, and only 20.06 per ctut. duiing the second period under review. The actual figures in* : — 1881, 12,985,085; 1890, 16,11&,1J3; 1899, 19,J48,506. The shipping returns tell a similar story. Tho increase in the tonnage entered inwards showed an increase of over 57 per cent, during the first nine years, and ouly 22.39 per cent, in the second period. The results of comparing the shipping outwards arc not materially different-. It will be iscen from those figures that taking tlje .staple products of the colony and the bringing ot the land into cultivation as our guide, the colony went ahead : relatively at a greater rale uuder the "Con-

«-■ — W^mt V W J M.A.-M It A m u--m «_y _ servative" administrations .than it has dona under lhe "Liberal" regime. We may -add that the former, judging by the Customs revenue,' did nol bleed the people Ihrough tho taxes quite so .nuch as our piesent rules do. The Customs revenue increased from £1,541,395 in 1890 to ±!2,0'i2,00Z, or 32.48 per cent., in 1899. Between 1881. and 1890 the increase was from £1,442,609 'to ' £1.541,395, or slightly over 8 percent. .' Yet, as we have shown, the relative .increase of population was grcatei during tho latter period than during the former.". . .