BOARD OF TRADE RETURNS AND NEW ZEALAND.

West Coast Times, Issue 659, 4 November 1867, Page 2

BOARD OF TRADE RETURNS AND NEW ZEALAND.

(moil THE HOME XEWS, SEIT. 2.) y Tho last tables published by the Board of Trado give an account of the imports and export 3 from and to Australia for. the six months of the pi'cscnt and the two preceding i years. The following uvo tho general totals. They include all the colonies, namely, West Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Now South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, and Wow Zealand : — Imports from Exports to Total. 1867 ... 177,300,031. 4,296,565 11,G56,599 1866 ... L 0,2 21,618 6,763,653 12,993,271 1165 ... £4,818,715 6,325,006 11,143,721 If we may regard 1860 as an exceptional year, which it certainly wa3 in tho annals of British commerce and .finance, it will bo eeen that Australian trade is in pi % ocess of increase. It is true that there is a large falling off in 1867 compared with 1866. Bub 1866 wa3 so disastrous hero that goods were forced off in all directions, iv order to obtain tho means of meoting engagements that had been rendered doubly onerous by the long continuance of the 10 per cent r.i<oof discount ; hence the comparative excess of exports. As to tho imports, they continue to furnish substantial proofs of the progress of theso great dependencies, tho iucreuso sineo 1865 having been no less than L2,5i1,319. New Zealand ha? some eauso to complain oftheuiodoin which tho accounts arc made up. A largo portion of the Australian im- | ports iuto this country consist of gold. But the accounts never show how much of this gold proceeds from the rapidly developing lields of New Zealand. This is a manifest injustice, which will bo felt the more keenly tho longer it is continued. But it is one of tlioso official customs which will never bo broken down so long as New Zealand does not assert her position, in this respect as in others, us a producing country. It is iv a great measure owing to this anomaly that the imports from New Zealand boar such an apparently small proportion to the aggregate of the Australasian imports. But, even under this disadvantage, New Zealand shows relatively as much progress, if not more, in proportion to her population, as any of her co-provinces. The iol-

lowkg comparative statement will confirm the remark : — Imports from. Exports to. Total. 1867 ... £767,163 £754,301 £1,551,469 1866 ... 364,268 070,193 1,331,461 1865 ... 214,924 753,972 978,896 . These figures establish a degree of progress in industrial occupation and commercial energy that is highly creditable to the enterprise of New Zealand ? and wo are satisfied that it is calculated to attract population to a country endowed by nature with all tho elements of wealth and contentment. In estimating the trade of the first six months of 1867, it must be remembered that tho enlargement that it exhibits has been effected in a season when British trade generally has been | in a state of almost unexampled duluoss and depression. But the wants of a new country are illimitable; and the consuming powers of New Zealand cannot but increaso in the same ratio as its development. This is a trade j which is thoroughly appreciated in the mother country ; merchants and producers, are j taking a wholesome interest in its extension. Referring to this article, the "Lyttolton Times " of the 31st ult. observes :—: — The "Home News," in a brief article which we quoted yesterday, refers for the second time to a disadvantage iinder which New Zealand labors from the manner in which the Board of Trade returns aro made up. The gold export returns of this colony are indistinguishably mixed up with t!>o3o of Australia, so that no credit is given for this very important item to New Zealand itself. Wo believe the " Home News " is correct in saying that this error will never be rectified until it is pointed out, and the correction osked for by tho Colonial Government. And, as we can see no objection standing in tho way, we believe that tho correction requires ouly to bo applied for in ordov to bo obtained. It is certainly a matter of some importance to the colony that it should obtain full credit for tho entire value of its exports and imporls. Those who tiro prepared to iuvest their money in colonial securities will naturally bo iuiluonccd to a very considerable extent by the appearance which each colony makes in theso authoritative returns of the Board of Trado. And without attaching over much weight to the competition between tho various colonies in the moHcy market, we think it at least as well that wo should havo credit for the produce of our own gold-fields, instead of passing it over to swell the returns from those for our neighbors. Neither cost nor trouble is iuvolvod in the alteration. The present Ministry ha 3 always shown itself fully alive to whatever wa3 calculated to promote tho interests of Now Zealand as a whole in its relations to either the mother country or other colonies, and wo hope that it will no!> ho wanting in tho case now before m.