The Governor's dispatch, dated the 24th ultimo, to the Secretary of State reviewing the Blue Book for 1907, was laid on the table of the Legislative Council on June 25, Sir Frederick wrote The total revenue from all sources was $8,602,280 or $432,731 lose than in the previous year.
The expenditure for the year was $5,757,203 or $1,175,407 less than the total expenditare of 1908, Deducting from the actual receipts for 1907 the total expenditure. there was a surplus of $845,076 on the actual working of the year, ABKETS AND LIABILITIER, the end of the year 1907, the assets of the Colony amounted to $2,650,733.99, or including arrears of revenue $2,739,712.32, The surplus of assets over liabilities amounted to #1,533,717.19.
TRADK AXD sutPrina, The total of the shipping entering and clearing at Ports in the Colony during the year 1907 shows an increase of 77,908 vessels of 3,281,042 tons when compared with the corresponding figures for 1906. in which year there was a decrease of 1,437,823 tons due to loss of local vemels in the typhoon, The aggregates chow an increase of about 360,000 tonx in importa, of about 191,000 tone in exports and of about 518,000 tons in transit cargo.
Doring 1907 the price of refined sugars in the Enst still further declined, principally ax a result of the lower coat of raw xngar, bit also owing to the determined competition of Japanese refineries seeking to capture the local refineries' old established Chinese con-noxious, By the end of 1907 the strenuous competition from Japanese quarters had, however, exhausted itself, and it confidently expected by those best able ta form an opinion that local industries will be able (o maintain and improve their position, The demand for yarn during 1907 max even more unsatisfactory than during the previous year, which was bredly due to the failure of almost every yarn shop in the Colony. There lures threw a quantity of yarn on the market which had to be disposed of at reduction of $20-25 per bale on the contract price. Owing to the large stocks on hand it was found necessary to decrease the output of the local cotton mill by reducing the number of spindles running, and during the last three months of the year "short time" was also resorted to.
Both exchange and the price of raw material have been in favour of the rope factory, enabling them to reduce their selling price to their customers to
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.