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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

[introduction]

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The growth of trade in New Zealand within recent years has been very great, and the value of the output in almost every branch of industry has been steadily advancing. The Government returns assess the exports for 1902, for the whole colony, at £13,644,977; an increase of £760,000 on the value of the exports of 1901, and £400,000 over the previous record year of 1900. The total declared values of imports in 1902 amounted to £11,326,723, which included £368,685 of specie. So far as Otago is concerned, the value of the exports was practically the same as in 1901; but frozen meat shipped from Port Chalmers and Oamaru by the local company showed a total output of 242,588 carcases of mutton and lamb, as against 135,951 in the previous year. The condition of the London market has been enabling buyers in New Zealand to give for fat sheep and lambs prices that have probably not been excelled since the beginning of the frozen meat industry. Wool, so far as Otago is concerned, shows an increase in the number of bales exported in 1902; namely, 38,500, as against 31,500 in 1901. Otago's share of gold exported during 1902 is represented by 181,116 ounces, valued at £728,124. The oats exported for the same year were valued at £66,664, and wheat at £31,074; but these figures are far below those of average years.

A further marked advance is exhibited in the returns of Customs revenue for the year which ended on the 31st of March, 1903. During that period the total value of imports, for all ports of entry in New Zealand, amounted to £11,576,137, while the exports totalled £15,174,739. The amount of duty paid was £2,331,024, of which £405,934 was collected at Dunedin, £72,293 at Invercargill and Bluff, and £14,934 at Oamaru.

A mere enumeration of the chief industries of Otago is interesting and suggestive in a high degree. The province has thirteen meat freezing and preserving works, twelve ham and bacon-curing establishments, thirteen fish-curing and preserving works, forty-two butter and cheese factories, seven rabbit packing factories, twenty-seven grain mills, seven biscuit factories, two fruit preserving and jam-making works, four sugarboiling and confectionery works, fifteen breweries, eight malthouses, seventeen aerated water factories, five coffee and spice works, four soap and candle works, five boilingdown works, four cooperages, seventy sawmills, sash, and door factories, six woodware and turnery factories, eleven grass-seed dressing establishments, two paper mills, five gasworks, five lime and cement works, twenty-five brick, tile, and pottery works, fourteen iron and brass foundries, eight engineering works, forty-nine printing offices, twelve agricultural implement factories, twenty coachbuilding and painting works, twenty-one cycle factories, twenty saddlery and harness factories, thirty-three tanning, fellmongering, and woolscouring establishments, nine ship and boatbuilding yards, thirty-two furniture and cabinetmaking factories, five chemical works, five woollen mills, thirty-five boot and shoe factories, four rope and twine works, and sixteen flax mills.

The Octagon, Dunedin.Photo by F. A. Rosewarne.

The Octagon, Dunedin.Photo by F. A. Rosewarne.

The last statistical account of Australia and New Zealand, prepared by Mr. Coghlan, Government Statistician for New South Wales, covers the period of 1902–3. It shows that the value of land in private hands in New Zealand is £61,466,000, representing 35.11 per cent. of the total wealth of the colony. The value of property is £175,076,000, being an average of £229 per head of the population. By comparing the number of persons who leave property at death, with the number of persons dying, some idea is obtained from Mr. Coghlan's invaluable pages of the proportion of the whole population possessing estates sufficiently valuable to become the subjects of specific bequests. The proportion of estates per 100 deaths of the total population for the year 1901–2, was 19.09 per cent. Other figures, slightly larger and smaller, are given for the States of the Commonwealth; page 269 and “these figures,” writes Mr. Coghlan, “show a distribution of property not to be paralleled in any other part of the world.” It is pleasing to find that, in the whole population of New Zealand, nearly one in five is the possessor of property. Of the whole of Australasia, Victoria has the widest distribution of wealth of the individual States; South Australia comes next to Victoria; then come New Zealand, New South Wales, Tasmania, West Australia, and lastly Queensland. The full and comprehensive information available from income tax figures enables the statistician to determine with considerable accuracy the incomes received by the people of New Zealand. Excluding the revenues of the Government, the yearly incomes received in New Zealand amount to £39,427,000. Under the £200 limit, the average individual income of male bread winners is £107; while over £200, the average is £575. With regard to the “cost of living,” under this designation, the expenditure of Australasia amounted to £43 13s 2d per inhabitant in 1902. According to Mulhall, this expenditure amounts to £29 14s 9d in the United Kingdom; £23 Is 4d in France; £20 3s 4d in Germany; £10 Is 11d in Russia; and £32 16s 2d in the United States of America. In making such comparisons, differences in the purchasing power of money must be kept in view; but it may be noted that in so far as primary requirements connected with food are concerned, this power is greater in Australasia than it is in any of the countries thus compared by Mulhall.