The Waimate Advertiser. PUBLISHED DAILY. FRIDAY, JULY 13, 1917. COMMERCIALLY, OUR-ONE THING "NEEDFUL."

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XVII, Issue 638, 13 July 1917, Page 2

The Waimate Advertiser. PUBLISHED DAILY.

FRIDAY, JULY 13, 1917. COMMERCIALLY, OUR-ONE THING "NEEDFUL."

‘ .IfuUuni in Piirao

Shipping, shipping, shipping I. Ii we can -get shipping we are ai! right in Xew /."aland. The I’r-nn-ier has jusl sjathat iiier-' will he 20 ships coming 1,0 l!m Dond. nion io load p: odue .■ in Cm nex i iv, 11 months, and id’ course Hie- • will noi t'ume ■•nip y. Cm wha 1 aie twenty ship .in a year’s irad •! Tim spiii.-iics i■ f ary of Hm Ihmhem' Boards will -/how ihat u takes vearlv o\er (IQi) oversea Yes-

si-ls to carry t!:e im|;uris and r:<-jifM-f_s of this cnnury. hi 1915, hj he exact. the. oversea steam vess ds Inlailed 081 rind' the sailing \ ess-. G 07. while in preunits years ill ■ slighily lesser number of the former was made up hy die larger number of [lu; la tier. The prosper Ls of good yields of grain, heavy manuliaclures of butter mid cheese, big clips oJhwool, and Jingo sla.ugh--1 •lings of mul(on, niake the producer’s ouiJook hopeful, if wo can udy get shipping. Similarly, the retailers of imports in the towns would breath more freely if they ■ mild only he sure Unit ilia merchandise would come to hand hi normal quantities. Mull the adiices receive.:! from representatives of the wholesale 5 houses indicate tha< lire stocks arc running short in many lines 6F merchandise, .and the consequence will be that if the public cannot he offered the goods to buy the 'shopkeeper cannot hope; to do. the '.same amount of business with his public. 'The imports have kept up wonderfully well, considering the protracted' shipping him ine. It seems to hear, out The contention that so long as New Zealand can “produce Tig exportable surpluses of foodstuffs, the Home Government will ho obliged to provide shipping—soon or late in the season —to carry it to the place where it is urgently needed; and this will mean that merchandise will come witjh those ships on the outward trips. Led us. look at the latest Abstract of Statistics issued by Hie New Zealand Government. We find that for the , first five months of 1916 — that! is, the Jamb nry-May term—the total value of appamd and drapery* imported was £585,185, and in the corresponding period of 1.917 it was £572,456. lu hoots and' shoes the quantities were 39,176 pairs in 1916 (five months) and 31,901 in 1917 (five months). Cocoa, chocolate, coffee, and confectionery certainly show.eel a considerable falling off —-to less than half in value; but leather 1 , machinery- and 1 ’ olheifdevelopmental materials show* a firm maintenance of import volume, with the exception of corrugated iron, which appears to havo fallen away almost to vanishing -point; plain fencing wire, which is loss than half Itho former quantity, andf pipes and fuT. mgs, which show a; similar decrease, " The quantity of tobacco imported keeps up, ofccept cigarwhich' sre presumably hard

to secure. AVei don't think any fewer. #jnaj smoked. Perhaps the exr planxrtioix is! tof he foimd in the inordinate consumption off the article by female; munition' workers of Britain 1 Beer, ale, and' stout showed a, drop in quantity to just about half that of the previous corresponding five months, and brandy decreased from 32,278gaL to 14,420ga.1, gin from 54,215 gal to 28,737ga1.; and whisky from 295,872 gallons "to 234,473ga1. Groceries were vtoll mainliaiuecl, except candles and rajsins, the former dropping 60 per cent, and the latter 45 per cent. Looking at the matter in a, broad and general way, we are forced once more to the conclusion (hat with the exception of some lines 1 which (.lie exigencies of war manufacture at Home preclude tbo making! of—and all departments of industrial output are

flose 1 y con|ro 11 ed tl ie ma iiu nall cij of 1 lie volume of 2sew Zealand's imports depends on the shipping which’ the authorities (are prepared (o provide; land the more we can produce in (he way of foodstuffs in this country, the mure will be (hei quantity of shipping devoted to the itrado of this Dominion hv those authorities.