PROGRESS OF OTAGO.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1311, 17 October 1883, Page 2

PROGRESS OF OTAGO.

_♦__ • In 1860 the population of Otago was estimated at 12,500 persons. In that year the exports bf the province were carried to England by a single sailing ship, the Gloucester, of 611 tons. In 1861," the year of the gold discoveries, we exported £727,321 worth of gold, and the export of wool had risen in value to £1 11,065, being a considera le increase on the previous year. Talcing the two years 1861 and 1862, it will be interesting to note that the total imports for 1861 amounted to £860,000, of which sheep figured for £61,257, horses £78,308, cattle £5810, and wines and spirits £32,609. In 1862 the imports had risen to £2,094, 498, and the export, to £1,742,483, of which gold amounted to £1,550,704. The importation of live stock had greatly increased — sheep to £95,100, horses £125,278, and wines and spirits £161.730. In ' 1863 the importation of live stock, sheep, horses, and cattle reached the large sum of £414,097. From that time the importation rapidly fell : the country was becoming stocked, and values were falling greatly. The imports for that year reached £2,094,483; the exports, gold and wool, £2,329, 137. In 1883 Otago and Southland possess 3,586,000 sheep, and during the past season they exported 64,653 bales of wool, valued at £1,184.038. The imports of general merchandise amount to £2,697,406, and exports to the value of £1,856,616. The population of the province has increased to 141, 450 persons * Dunedin and suburbs to 45,000. During' those 20 years Otago has exported gold of the value of £16, 564,675. One-third of the entire trade of the Colony is carried on by her merchants!, and one-third of the customs duties of the Colony is collected at her ports. In 1863 the locally-owned steam fleet was represented by the s.s. Pride of the Yarra and other small steamers employed between Dunedin and Port Chalmers, mini the arrival of the p.s. Golden Age at the end of that year. Out of the latter has sprung up the magnificent fleet of the Union Steamship Company, numbering 27 vessels, and of the aggregate tonnage of 24,791 tons— a fleet unsurpassed by any of the Colonies of Great Britain, and oi which the people are justly proud.