Trade.

The rapid growth of the import and export trade of New Zealand from the date of the establishment of the colony to 1884 inclusive will be seen from the following remarks :—

For the four years preceding 1845, the average value of the trade was : Imports, £139,000; exports (the produce of the colony), £33,000. For the ten years following : Imports, £407,875; exports, £171,875. For the period 1856-65: Imports, £3,270,000; page 75 exports, £1,578,000. 1866-75: Imports, £5,767,500; exports, £4,805,500. 1876-84 : Imports, £7,652,722; exports, £6,287,128. The imports for the year 1885 amounted to £7,479,921, and the exports (of local production) to £6,819,939.

The great bound shown in the figures for the period 1856-65 was caused by the gold discoveries. The first considerable exportation of this metal took place in 1861, the value being £752,657, increasing in the following year to £1,591,389, and the year subsequent (1863) to £2,431,723. A more than corresponding large increase in the imports took place in the same period, due to the great influx of miners and immigrants from all parts of the world.

The total import and export trade of the colony for the year 1881, in proportion to population, amounted to £26 14s. O½d. per head of the mean population (excluding Maoris), being a decrease on 1883 of £1 15s. 4½d. per head.