11.—44.

TRADE WITH SOUTH AMERICA. Table XVI hereunder shows details of our trade with the main South American States:

Table XVI. —Trade with South America.

Items of export to these countries are potatoes, apples, and sheep. It is the fall in the volume of potatoes exported which mainly accounts for the drop of £143,509 in the total export figure. The main items of import from these South American countries during 1938 are as follows (1937 figures given in parentheses) : Nitrate of soda, £23,961 (£16,416); edible nuts, £22,416 (£22,771) ; undressed hides, pelts, and skins, £12,114 (£15,409) ; millet-seed, £11,134 (£18,586); cocoa-beans, £8,099 (£8,930) ; and cocoa-butter, £45 (£7,015). ISLAND TRADE. The figures for the trade between New Zealand and the islands in the Pacific generally show a fall from the 1937 level, as the following figures will indicate, Tkape with Fiji. Both exports from this country to Fiji and imports into this country from Fiji during 1938 show an increase over the figures for 1937. Table XVII gives details of this trade over the past seven years.

Table XVII.—Total Trade with Fiji.

Exports to Fiji comprised a number of items, of which the most important were meats, salted, frozen, and tinned, £14,676 (£18,271) ; potatoes, £4,928 (£5,002) ; bacon and hams, £3,963 (£3,947) ; soap, £4,241 (£3,501) ; tallow, £2,203 (£3,632); timber, £1,825 (£1,584); baking-powder, £1,666 (£2,085) ; butter and cheese, £1,541 (£2,101); lard, £901 (£934); sugar, refined, £665 (£3,040); and onions, £104- (£1,352). Imports from Fiji during 1938 were bananas, £80,981 (£61,427); raw sugar, £10,605 (£12,395); potatoes, £4,803 (£5,185) ; molasses, £2,923 (£2,714) ; mandarins, £1.764 (£3,849) ; and oranges, £790 (£1,784).

10

Exports. Imports. 1936. 1937. ' 1938. 1936. ! 1937. 1938. I I I I £(N.Z.) £(N.Z.) £(N.Z.) £(N,Z.) £(N.Z.) £(N.Z.) Argentina .. .. 11,795 50,331 29,915 18,476 41,190 27,571 Bolivia .. .. .. .. .. 1,413 2,009 1,746 Brazil .. .. 5,937 12,501 15,000 15,955 34,009 26,522 Chile .. .. 2,520 ] ,369 88 7,560 16,543 24,447 Ecuador .. .. 1,161 150 447 6,624 4,907 5,711 Paraguay .. .. ,. .. .. 20 20 Peru .. .. 72 2 700 161 85 31 Uruguay .. .. 36,081 126,910 13,904 Totals.. .. 57,566 203,563 60,054 50,504 98,764 86,028

Y ° December,' 3t Total Trade. J Exports to Fiji. Imports from Fiji, E * Exporta!^ £(N.Z.) £(N.Z.) £(N.Z.) £(N.Z.) 1932 .. .. .. 205,338 88,693 116,645 27,952 1933 .. .. .. 193,531 87,435 106,096 18,661 1934 .. .. .. 188,659 85,493 103,166 17,673 1935 .. .. .. 166,281 86,191 80,090 6,101* 1936 .. .. .. 197,878 102,076 95,802 6,274* 1937 .. .. .. 190,787 95,214 95,572 341 1938 .. .. .. 211,075 98,427 112,648 14,221 * Excess of exports over imports.