Page:EB1911 - Volume 19.djvu/654

 increase in New Zealand is over 17. To that, and to the annual gain by immigration, the fairly rapid rate of increase is due. Between 1885 and 1891 the colony lost more than it gained oversea; but from 1892 to 1908 the gain by immigration was 90,000. Probably, at least half of these represent Australians, impelled to emigrate by years of drought. England and Scotland supply the bulk of the remainder. The government has aided immigrant farmers and farm labourers having a certain sum of money, also female domestics, by paying part of their passage money.

The people of colour in 1906 numbered 53,000, including 2300 Chinese and 6500 Maori half-castes. An apparent increase of 7000 in the Maori and half-castes between 1891 and 1906 is, perhaps, partly due to more accurate computation. It seems probable that the number of Maori and half-castes taken together is about the same as it was thirty years ago, though the infusion of white blood is larger. The Public Health Department has exerted itself to improve the sanitation of native villages and combat the mischievous trickery of Maori wizards and “doctors.”

Wealth.—The increase of wealth went on after 1879 in spite of dull times, and was only checked by the especially severe financial depression of 1893 and 1894, caused by low prices and the Australian bank panic. The estimated private wealth of colonists fell from £236 per head in 1890 to £219 in 1895. It was computed in 1905 to have reached £292. After deducting debts owing abroad the public and private wealth of the colony is calculated to be about £270,000,000.

Of the five banks of issue doing business in the dominion three are Australian and New Zealand institutions. Their deposits exceeded £21,000,000 in 1907, as against £12,250,000 in 1890. At the same date more than £10,000,000 stood to the credit of small depositors in post office and private savings banks, nine-tenths in the former. The gross amount insured by policies in life insurance offices (ordinary and industrial) was over £29,000,000, of which the state office claimed two-fifths.

Trade.—The growth of sea-trade in recent years is shown by the larger size of the ocean-going vessels trading with the colony. The number of these only advanced from 589 to 629 between 1896 and 1906. But the increase of tonnage in the eleven years was from 614,000 tons to 1,243,000; while the crews rose from 20,000 to 32,500. The coasting trade and trade with Australia are carried in New Zealand-owned vessels.

External trade has risen from £13,111,000 in 1887 to £37,371,000 in 1907. Before 1886 exports exceeded imports; but in the twenty subsequent years there was an invariable excess of exports, valued in all at £52,000,000.

The re-export trade is stationary and extremely small. Trade with the United States grew from £877,000 in 1891 to £2,140,000 in 1907. Thanks to the tariff of the United States the balance of trade with North America is heavily against New Zealand. The same disparity is shown in her trade with Germany, which is, however, much smaller—less than half a million. Trade with India and Ceylon reached £557,000 in 1906; that with Fiji and other Pacific islands was £622,000 in 1900. With these exceptions New Zealand trade is almost all done with Australia (£5,348,000 in 1907) and the United Kingdom; the latter's share in 1906 was £26,811,000 of the whole.

Production.—Wool (£4,250,000 to £7,657,000 according to prices) remains at the head of the list of exports. The quantity grown increased by 70% in the twenty years 1887–1906. Moreover the export of sheep skins and pelts was valued at £680,000 in the last-mentioned year. But the description changes; there is much less merino, and more of the coarser and longer cross-bred. The number of sheep has increased from 16,564,000 in 1886 to 22,000,000 in 1908, though the increase has been almost all in North Island. The number of the flocks grows, and the average size diminishes even more rapidly. There were 9149 flocks in 1886; in 1906 the number had risen to 18,500—average size of each flock about 1050. The smaller size of the flocks and the breeding of sheep for meat rather than for wool, the cultivation of English grasses and of extensive crops of turnips and other roots on which to fatten sheep and lambs, all tend to change sheep-farming from the mere grazing of huge mobs on wide, unimproved runs held by pastoral licences. The “squatters” still occupy eleven million acres, but even these are more closely subdivided than in former days. How much more extensive is grazing—of the more scientific order—than agriculture, is seen at once from the figures of the amount of land broken up, for crops or other purposes, and the amount under sown grasses. There were about 1,600,000 acres under crop in 1899. This is exclusive of the vast area of native-grass land. The area now occupied and utilized by whites is about 38,000,000 acres.

The character of the soil and the moist cool climate enable English grasses to be sown almost everywhere, and 13,000,000 acres are now laid down with these. The result is seen in the price obtained for New Zealand sheep in Smithfield Market, which is from d. to 1d.

per ℔ higher than that given for frozen mutton from other countries. The figures below show the growth of the trade:

In the market for frozen lambs the colony remains at present without a rival. Frozen beef is also sent to England. In 1907 the export of frozen meat was valued at £3,420,000. The export of butter and cheese has risen in value from £207,687 in 1890, till in 1907 that of butter amounted to £1,615,000. In London, New Zealand cheese fetches as high a price as Canadian; the value of the cheese exported was £662,000 in 1907. Though not yet quite equal in importance to wool or frozen meat, dairy-farming is almost entirely carried on by small farmers and their families, who supply milk to factories. Most of these are co-operative, their shareholders being the farmers themselves. The profits of the industry are thus widely distributed among the producers. The development of dairy-farming has led to the spread of settlement, especially in the west of North Island, where large tracts of fertile soil formerly covered with forest have now been cleared and converted into dairy-farms. Of 1,850,000 cattle in the colony, two-sevenths are dairy cows.

The importance of hemp as an export—increasing from £26,000 in 1898 to £832,000 in 1907—has led to improvements in cleaning and grading it. In consequence its price in London nearly approaches that paid for manila.

Mining.—The export of gold, which was £1,220,000 in 1880, did not exceed that figure until 1898, and, indeed, fell below three-quarters of a million in 1887. Then gold-mining, after being long at a standstill, began again to make headway. For many years the surface alluvial mining in South Island became less and less profitable. As in other countries, however, the working of quartz reefs gradually compensated for this. The cyanide process of gold extraction, and the returns obtained by its means from the great Waihi mine in the Upper Thames, caused an outbreak of gold fever, which led to the opening up of a few good and a great many worthless quartz-mines in the Auckland fields. In South Island the river-beds of Otago province have been successfully worked by means of dredges, and good returns secured. In 1907 the gold exported was valued at £2,027,000. The total value of the gold exported from New Zealand from the discovery of the metal in 1857 to 1907 was, roundly, £70,000,000. Kauri gum still holds its place as an export, over £500,000 worth being dug up annually. The number of Istrians and Dalmatians who came from the Adriatic to dig for kauri gum led to the passing of restrictive laws.

The progressive output of coal from 1880 to 1900 is shown below.

¹ Excluding Coal for Fuel by Ocean Steamers. Excellent as the quality of the best New Zealand coal is, the cost of mining and shipping it prevents the growth of any considerable export trade. Silver is chiefly extracted in the Thames district, but other mines containing silver ores have been found. There are many other valuable ores—copper, iron, lead, zinc, antimony, chrome and manganese. Petroleum springs have been tapped near New Plymouth. Building stones of various kinds and of excellent quality abound. Marble and cement stones occur in many places. There are extensive deposits of iron-sand on the west coast of the North Island, and of iron ore at Parapara in Nelson.

Manufactures.—Protected by a tariff wall which was repeatedly heightened between 1879 and 1907, manufactures made considerable progress. At the end of 1885 about 22,000 work-people were being employed in 1946 workshops, and the aggregate output was valued at six millions and three-quarters. Twenty years later the number of establishments was 4186; the number of hands 56,000; and the output twenty-three millions and a half. A small deduction should be made from this apparent increase to allow for a changed system of classification. Male factory hands greatly outnumbered female, standing in the ratio of four to one. Between 1879 and 1895 wages fell. Between 1895 and 1906 they rose 15% on the average among males of all ages, and as much as 30% among women and girl workers. The disproportionate rise in the case of females is probably due to the policy of the industrial arbitration court. The chief factory industries come under the following heads: meat-freezing and tallow; tanning and wool-scouring; flax mills, saw-mills and grain-mills; boots and shoes; woollen and clothing; butter and