COMMERCIAL RELATIONS. 



49 



New South "Wales Imports and Exports in 1894-. 



Note.— The total imports in 1895 were £15,992,415; the exports of domestic produce were £16,456,123; 

 the other produce exported was £5,478,662, and the grand total of the exports £21,934,785. 



It may at first appear remarkable tliat vmcler sucli lieacLs as food.^, 

 live stock, and bullion and specie New Soutb Wales should, in the 

 year 1894, have impoi'ted more largely tlian she exported. But it 

 must be remembered that hitherto the Colony has not produced 

 enough wheat, oats, and sugar for her home consumption, that she 

 imports tea, coffee, and dried fruits, and that her food exports, con- 

 sisting mainly of frozen and preserved meats, have not yet attained 

 such magnitude as they bid fair to do. Indeed, the following com- 

 parison will serve to show that, with due attention to breeding and to 

 slaughtering at the proper ages, there is room for vast increases in the 

 food exports : — 



The greatest need in the development of trade in such perishable 

 product is that of adequate and suitable transport, and upon this point 

 the Government and the leading produce merchants are now intero.>ting 

 themselves greatly. A regular supply of shipping possessed of adetpiate 

 frozen storage, proper warehouse accommodation at the ports of ship- 

 ment, slaughtering places up the country in touch with the railways, 

 where freezing can at once bo effected, and cold carriage over the rail- 

 ways are all requisite to a proper development of the trade where the 

 principal flocks and herds are located hundreds of miles inland, for it 

 is an essential that the meat should be delivered in the United Kingdom 

 in the best condition. Thus, there is much still to be accomplished 

 before this industry can be brought into full bearing. 



