OUR FOREIGN TRADE.
If the continued expansion in our Imports can be regarded as the forerunner of an ultimate expansion in our Export trade, the figures for the past month of April must be regarded as satisfactory. For the month of April the total value of Imports was £56,330,483 as compared with £51,187,310 in April last year. The expansion was particularly noticeable in Raw Materials ; Timber, Cotton, Wool and Rubber all showing a great increase, while the expansion follows a gain during the previous months of the year, and of a total increase of about £30,000,000 in Imports for the first four months of this year, not far short of £20,000,000 was repre- sented by Raw Materials for manufacture. Unfortunately, so far as-Raw Cotton is concerned, there is no corresponding reflection of an increase in the Exports of manufactured goods, which have declined largely by reason of smaller purchases for India and the Far Fast. In the case of Raw Wool, however, there has been a marked increase in the Exports of manufactured goods. The figures for the four months also show a moderate expansion in Empire trade.
A. W. K.
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