value of the gold obtained during 1897 was £980,204; during 1898, £1,080,691, an increase of £100,500. There are extensive coal mines, but little has been done towards working the other minerals in the colony. The wool clip for 1898 was 154,000,000 lbs., worth about £4,700,000, showing an increase of 65 per cent, in eleven years. There were 19,500,000 sheep in the colony in 1898, as against 15,000,000 in 1888, the growth being chiefly in the small flocks, which number 12,886 of under 500 as against 6,579 in 1888, while those of 20,000 and upwards have decreased. This is because the small owners are better able to cope with the rabbit difficulty than the large runholders.
The total declared value of the imports in 1898 amounted to £8,230,600, as compared with £8,055,223 in 1897, and £7,137,320 in 1896. The excess of exports over imports, excluding specie, was nearly £2,250,000.
The cost of living in the colony is estimated at about £35, 6s. 1d. per head of the population. But the average rate of wages is distinctly higher than in Great Britain, and the average income of the New Zealander is £37, as against £29 for the Briton and £32 in the United States. Bread is 1½d. per lb., beef 3¾d., mutton 3d.; while agricultural labourers get about 15s. weekly, with board, and artizans about 10s. daily, without. There is £19 per head deposited in the banks, and the estimated private wealth of £201,000,000 works out at £271 to the individual, in 1898: to which must be added the public wealth, of about £45,000,000.
Manufactories and works show a satisfactory increase over the previous years.
Generally speaking, the Revenue duties are not protective. Clothing and boots are, however, subject to a
