494 



Transactions. — MisceManeous. 



" Eeniarks on New Zealand's Trade and Public Debt "* and 

 "The Flood of Gold,"! and for some information on the sub- 

 ject I may refer the reader to this source. Taking the aver- 

 age over the years 1880-89 and over 1890-99, we find a fall 

 in prices in the ratio of 77 to 66 as measured by Sauerbeck's 

 index numbers — i.e., a fall in ihe ratio of 7 to 6, or some 14 

 or 15 per cent. Accordingly, if the exports of a country had 

 remained exactly the same in quantity and general exchange- 

 value from the one period to the other, the nominal value, or 

 value in the pounds sterling of the time, would appear to indi- 

 cate a fall of one-seventh, or about 14 per cent. ; and the 

 greater the exports in the former period the greater would be 

 the apparent fall. 



In Table I. are given the total nominal values of the 

 special exports of the four leading nations commercially — 

 namely, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, 

 Germany, and France — for the decennial periods 1880-89 and 

 18^0-99. The absolute increases are given in each case. 

 These are the figures usually given ; but in the table are 

 added the approximate monetary values that the exports of 

 the latter period would have had if money had remained of 

 the same average value it had during the former period, Sauer- 

 beck's index numbers having been used in the calculation. 

 These figures represent, in terms of the money of tiie earlier 

 period, and within the necessary limits of error of the esti- 

 mates, the true or exchange values of the exports of the later 

 period as compared with those of the earlier one. The cor- 

 responding absolute increases are also added. 



Table I. 

 Special Values. 



Country. 



Exports. 



1880-89. 



1890-99. 



Nominal 

 Values. 



Values in 



Money of 



18fti0-89. 



Absolute Increases. 



• Trans. N.Z. Inst., 1902, vol. xxxv., pp. 117-122. 

 t Trans. N.Z. Inst., 1902, vol. xxxv., pp. 122-139. 



