I.—General Remarks.

It will be apparent, Mr, Chairman and gentlemen, from what has gone before, that I have been led to form a high estimate of the possibilities of trade between New Zealand and the Islands of the South Pacific, visited by me in the character of your delegate. That estimate, I hope, is not an exaggerated one, nor has it been arrived at without a due consideration of the many and serious obstacles which exist to the further development of trade with these Islands. From the foregoing notes, and from the statistical tables appended (compiled with as much accuracy and fulness as were possible in the circumstances), it will be seen that the import and export trade of the Islands for the year 1884 reached a total value of nearly £700,000; and of this over a quarter of a million sterling is the increase of the last thirteen years. It is not going too far to say that the whole of this increase in trade might have been secured to New Zealand, had this Colony at an earlier stage adopted the policy now being pursued, of fostering and aiding in the development of commercial interchange. As the case stands at present, one half of the Island trade is divided between Germany and America in nearly equal proportions; New Zealand, Australia, and England have each one-eighth, and France about one-twentieth. It is also worthy of note that (excluding the French military population at Tahiti) the English residents in these Islands exceed in number those of any other foreign nationality; and this, added to the fact that the combined trade of England and her colonies exceeds that of any other nationality by 50 per cent., goes to prove that British interests are widely established all over these groups, and are deserving of recognition and support. Of a total shipping trade of 284 vessels of 60,586 tons, England and her Colonies were last year represented by 115 vessels of 24,918 tons, the greater portion of these being colonial vessels.