Commerce.

With the foregoing outline of the producing and industrial interests of Canterbury one should have no difficulty in judging of the nature of its commerce. The main business of the merchants is, of course, to find a profitable outlet abroad for produce, and to import id distribute commodities for consumption and materials for developing the resources of the district. The value of the foreign trade of Lyttelton last year (to 30th June) was £3,411,843, consisting of exports, £2,266,569, and imports, £1,145,274. At Timaru, the second port of Canterbury, the value of the foreign trade for the same period was £642,720, made up by exports, £566,429, and imports, £76,291 Those figures furnish an eloquent commentary on the wonderful expansion of the Canterbury export trade, in the fact that the exports represent 70 per cent, of the foreign trade. In other words, the relative values of exports and imports are as 7 to 3. In Canterbury: therefore, is presented the extraordinary feature: of a total population of only 124,000, having a foreign trade of £4,054,563 in valid Besides dealing with produce and merchandise the commercial interest in Canterbury has always been an important channel for the introduction of capital for promoting enterprise in the district. In concluding this sketch, it is due to the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce to say that it has always devoted its influence, with zest and with no small success, to the promotion, not only of what lay nearest to the commercial interest, but to every measure likely It promote the prosperity of the district as a whole.