THE NEW ZEALAND OFFICIAL YEAR-BOOK, 1955

Inter-censal Population (p. 33).—Recent population changes are given in the following table.

POPULATION AT END OF YEAR

The above figures are exclusive of the population of the Cook Islands, 15,657 (at 31 March 1954); Niue Island, 4,734 (at 31 March 1955); Tokelau Islands, 1,796 (at 31 March 1955), and Western Samoa, 94,128 (at 31 December 1954).

Natural Increase.—Owing to the uniformly high levels in births in the last few years and the relative stability in the number of deaths, population gains from natural increase—i.e., excess of births over deaths—have been particularly marked in recent years, the excess of births over deaths in 1954 at 35,255 constituting a record.

Migration (pp. 34–36).—The total number of arrivals in New Zealand during the year ended 31 March 1955 was 136,294, while the total number of departures in the same year was 128,918. Excluding crews and through passengers, arrivals totalled 61,610 and departures 54,580, making the net excess of arrivals 7,030, as compared with 15,441 in 1953–54. A classification of total arrivals and departures gives the following results.

Until 1953–54 recent statistics of the numbers of immigrants intending permanent residence had shown considerable increases, arrivals under this heading being 18,234 in 1950–51; 24,922 in 1951–52; and 29,005 in 1952–53. This upward trend was not only halted in 1953–54 but in fact a decrease of 4,109 was shown, the number totalling 24,896. A further decrease of 5,443 was shown in 1954–55 when immigrants intending permanent residence totalled 19,453.

The resumption of assisted passages for certain classes of immigrants is reflected in the statistics. The following were the numbers arriving under this heading over the past five years: 1950–51, 2,928; 1951–52,4,949; 1952–53,7,581; 1953–54,6,299; 1954–55,4,332.

The numbers of assisted migrants, which had been steadily rising over the last few years, showed a substantial drop during 1953–54; unassisted migration fell 13.2 per cent, as against a decrease of 16.9 per cent in assisted migrants. This trend continued in 1954–55, when unassisted immigrants fell 18.7 per cent and assisted immigrants 31.2 per cent compared with the previous year.

Vital statistics for the calendar years 1953 and 1954 are shown, in summary form, in the following table. Statistics in more detail for 1953 and earlier years are given on pages 56–108.

Births.—The total number of births registered in 1954 (54,131) is the highest recorded in the history of New Zealand, exceeding the previous high total in 1953 by 2,188. The birth-rate, however, is still below the high figure of 27.70 recorded in 1947.

Building Permits in Urban and Rural Districts Combined.—The following table gives a summary for New Zealand of building permits (including State building operations) for the years ended 31 March 1954 and 1955.

Building Permits Issued: Urban Districts.—Urban districts include all cities, boroughs, town districts, and the road district of Panmure Township, together with the counties of Waitemata, Manukau. Makara, Hutt, Paparua, Waimairi, Heathcote, Peninsula, and Taieri.

Building Permits Issued: Rural Districts.—Rural districts include the remaining counties of New Zealand and islands outside county boundaries.

Dwelling Units Completed.—Local authorities supplying building permit figures were also requested to supply the number of dwelling units which were completed during the year. Estimates have been made in some cases where it was not possible to supply actual figures. While absolute accuracy for these statistics cannot be claimed, it is believed they will give reasonably approximate results, and also reasonably accurate comparisons of year to year changes.

The total figures on this basis for new dwelling units completed during 1954–55 were 18,500, compared with 16,600 in 1953–54 and 16,100 in 1952–53. Those completed in urban districts numbered 13,900 in 1954–55, 12,200 in 1953–54, and 11,900 in 1952–53.

Statistics of external trade in the calendar year 1954, in continuation of the statistics included in pages 265–321 of this Year-Book, are given below.

Total Commodity Trade.—Following are statistics of exports and imports in 1952, 1953, and 1954.

INDEX NUMBERS OF VALUE AND VOLUME OF TRADE

The total trade per head of mean population in 1954 was £218 (exports £116 and imports £102).

Exports.—New Zealand's export commodity trade in 1954 was valued at £244.4 millions, an increase of 3.6 per cent over the previous year. An indication of the movement in the value of exports in the main groups of commodities is afforded by the following table.

VALUE OF EXPORTS

Apart from the question of values, a special interest attaches to progress in the volume of our export trade in major export commodities. In the following table the fluctuations in the quantities of exports of butter, cheese, meat, and wool since 1944 are shown.

NOTE.—The figures do not include wartime supplies to Allied Forces under mutual-aid arrangements, a factor of particular importance in 1944.

Direction of Export Trade.—The table below shows the main destinations of New Zealand exports in 1954.

Exports to Commonwealth countries in 1954 accounted for 74 per cent of the total exports, excluding ships' stores.

Imports.—The table following classifies imports by broad divisions.

IMPORTS VALUED AT CURRENT DOMESTIC VALUE IN COUNTRY OF EXPORT

Direction of Import Trade.—The next table shows the main sources (origin) of New Zealand's imports in 1954.

Imports from Commonwealth countries in 1954 comprised 80 per cent of the total.

Following the Census of Distribution in 1953 a continuing quarterly retail sample inquiry was inaugurated. The results of the census formed the framework from which a random sample of firms, stratified by store-type in broad geographical divisions and size of turnover, was drawn.

The actual sample inquiry is confined to just under 10 per cent of establishments, but these, on the basis of the census, represent approximately 28 per cent of total turnover. To provide the estimates presented in the following tables the figures have been expanded to represent the activity of all retail stores with the exception of hotel, motor vehicle, and motor accessory trading, which are excluded from the sample inquiry, and also from the census figures quoted by way of comparison.

Turnover by Store-types.—In the following tables details are shown for the years ended 31 March 1953 and 1955, and for the quarters ended 31 March 1954 and 1955.

Value of turnover increased in all store-types in the year ended 31 March 1955 as compared with the year ended 31 March 1953. The largest relative increase occurred in household appliances, radios, etc., the smallest movement being in furniture and soft furnishings.

TOTAL SALES OR TURNOVER £(000)

The following table covering retail trading throughout the whole of New Zealand reflects to a certain extent both the seasonal pattern of trading (e.g., milk, ice-cream, confectionery, soft drinks, etc.) and changes due to other circumstances.

COMMODITY SALES OR TURNOVER OF RETAIL STORES

Stocks.—The Census of Distribution, together with the present sample inquiry, provides stock figures as at 31 March of the last four years, and these are presented in the form of actual values and index numbers of actual value in the table which follows.

The figures for March 1955 show a rise in value of stocks of 7 per cent as compared with the March 1954 figure, an increase of 3 per cent as compared with March 1953, and an increase of 15 per cent as compared with March 1952.

VALUE OF STOCKS HELD BY RETAIL STORES AT END OF MARCH

Summary of the Public Account for the Financial Years 1953–54 and 1954–55 (p. 711).—The source of the following table is parliamentary paper B–6, 1955.

Summary of Budget Proposals.—The presentation of the Financial Statement was made on 21 July 1955, principal changes from the existing situation being briefly recorded below.

Taxation: Income Tax.—A rebate of 20 per cent from income tax, computed in accordance with existing rates and provisions, is to be granted for the tax year 1955–56 to individual taxpayers, with an upper limit of £75 to any rebate.

Sales Tax.—A fairly lengthy list of goods, of which the most important items were bicycles, clocks, and medicinal preparations and drugs, was exempted from sales tax by Resolution of the House of Representatives.

Death Duties.—Legislation to be introduced in the present session will abolish succession duty and impose a single estate duty, calculated on the value of the estate, which will combine the two existing duties, but will effect a general concession throughout the whole range of estates (estimated to amount to 17½ per cent reduction on total death and succession duties). The new scale will apply to estates of all persons dying on or after 21 July 1955.

Gift Duties.—The rates of gift duty will also be liberally adjusted (amounting to a 20 per cent reduction) throughout the entire range of gifts, for those gifts made on or after 21 July 1955.

Social Security.—The Social Security Commission is given a discretionary authority to raise the basic rate of benefit for single persons living alone by an amount of 5s. a week (i.e., maximum benefits £3 15s. a week). As already announced, it has been decided to apply the domestic service concession to women beneficiaries who perform domestic and nursing services in private homes, hospitals, and charitable institutions. An amendment to the Act is to be introduced enabling an unmarried woman between fifty-five and sixty years of age, who is unfit for regular employment, to be paid a benefit on the same basis as an age benefit. Also, as already announced, payments of benefits for which tuberculosis sufferers may qualify will be at rates up to £4 10s. for a single person and £8 10s. for a married couple, with additions where there are dependent children. For war pensions, a discretionary power is given to the War Pensions Board to provide a similar extra payment for single war pensioners who are in receipt of economic pensions, and also single war veterans, as in the case of social security beneficiaries.

Deferred Maintenance.—The deferred maintenance provisions introduced in 1944 will be repealed with effect for the income year ending 31 March 1956.

Hire Purchase.—Hire purchase regulations were gazetted on 21 July 1955 providing for minimum deposits of 50 per cent for motor vehicles and 15 per cent for all other goods, and for maximum periods for payment of the balance of 18 months for motor vehicles and 24 months for all other goods.

Local Authority Works.—The Local Government Loans Board has been informed that it is Government policy at the present time to confine local authority works activity to the most essential classes.

Public Loan.—It is intended to issue a public loan later in the year to complete the financing of the Government's capital programme.

Estimates of Receipts and Expenditure for 1955–56 (p. 712).—The following table shows the estimated receipts and payments for 1955–56 for the Consolidated and Social Security Funds.

Consolidated Fund (pp. 712–716).—The following table contains a summary of the receipts and payments of the Consolidated Fund for the financial years ended 31 March 1954 and 1955.

The surplus for the year 1952–53 of £3,307,043 was expended during the year 1953–54 by transfer to the Public Works Account. The corresponding surplus for the year 1953–54 of £1,802,980 was expended during the year 1954–55 by transfer to the Public Works Account.

Taxation (pp. 722–723).—Particulars of revenue from taxation for the financial years 1952–53, 1953–54, and 1954–55 are contained in the following table.

A summary showing the amounts received from direct taxes on income and from all sources during the last eleven years is now given.

State Indebtedness (p. 742).—The public debt as at 31 March 1955 amounted to £730,683,878, an increase of £24,222,056 as compared with a year earlier. Of the 1955 debt figure, £99,880,283 was held in the United Kingdom, an increase of £9,999,646.

Revenue of the Social Security Fund for the year ended 31 March 1955, together with the 1953–54 figures in parentheses, was as follows: Charge on salaries and wages, £32,423,831 (£28,714,790); charge on company and other income, £23,751,320 (£21,002,586); grant from Consolidated Fund, £14,000,000 (£14,000,000); interest on investments, £35,094 (£15,639); miscellaneous receipts, £103,865 (£105,956); total receipts, £70,314,110 (£63,838,971).

Payments from the Fund in 1954–55, with 1953–54 payments in parentheses, were: Monetary benefits, £52,901,484 (£48,626,205); emergency benefits and special assistance, £565,297 (£468,887); medical, etc., benefits, £12,588,924 (£10,607,046); Christmas bonus, £3,481 (£1,644,925); administration expenses, £1,097,219 (£1,017,140); other payments, £7,231 (£6,111). Total payments from the Fund were therefore £67,163,636 (£62,370,314). The balance in the Fund at the end of March 1955 was £15,578,640.

Particulars of the various social security benefits (monetary and health) and war pensions in force at the end of March 1955, together with total payments during the financial year 1954–55, are shown in the following table.

Retail Prices (pp. 892–895).—Details of the consumers' price index for the calendar year 1954, and for each of the quarters ended 31 March 1955 and 30 June 1955, are given below.

CONSUMERS' PRICE INDEX

Base: Weighted average twenty-one towns, first quarter, 1949 (=1000)

Share Prices (pp. 904–907).—Index numbers of share prices in 1954, together with the average for the year ended March 1955, are given below.

Monthly statistics for the first five months of 1955 are given below, together with figures for the corresponding months of 1954.

SHARE PRICES MONTHLY INDEX NUMBERS, YEAR 1938 (=1000)

Wage-rates (pp. 912–915).—Index numbers of average nominal wage-rates of wage-earners in 1953 and 1954 are as follows.

Effective Weekly Wage Rates (p. 916).—The following table shows nominal and effective weekly wage rates of adult workers for the years 1953 and 1954. The base of the index numbers is in each case the average of the five years 1926–30 (= 1000).

Revision of Nominal Wage Rate Index Numbers.—The 1954–55 revision of the wage rate index numbers has resulted in adjustments being made to the weights for occupations, occupational groups, and industrial groups. It has been found necessary to introduce some new occupations and occupational groups, but the framework of the existing industrial groups has been maintained. A full account of the revision is included as an appendix to the “Report on Prices, Wages, and Labour Statistics” for 1954. The base of the new index has been taken as the calendar year 1954 and the linking of the old series has been made through 1954 also. The all-groups index numbers of average weekly wage rates of adult wage-earners for the calender year 1954 and for adult males as at 31 March 1955 are as follows. The linked series for 1950 to 1953 are also included.

INDEX NUMBERS ALL GROUPS COMBINED

Base: All Groups 1954 (= 1000)

The following table shows a comparison of nominal and effective weekly wage rates of adult male and female workers in each of the years 1950–54 and for adult males for the first quarter of 1955. The base of the index numbers is in each case the calendar year 1954 (= 1000).

Average Rates of Wages (pp. 918–921).—The following table gives the prescribed minimum average weekly wage rates as at 31 March 1955, the series being confined to adult males.

Aggregate Weekly Wage Payment in Industry (pp. 922–924).—The following data, showing the average weekly wage pay-out in industry, have largely been extracted from the half-yearly surveys conducted by the Department of Labour.

Estimated Distribution of the Labour Force (p. 981).—The following table supplies an estimated distribution of the total labour force at 15 October 1954 and 15 April 1955.

Half-yearly Surveys of Employment (pp. 984–986). Following is a summary of the employment statistics as returned for 15 April 1955.

The figures shown in the manufacturing industry column are further subdivided as follows.

Limitations in the coverage of the figures shown above are noted on page 984.

Summary of Vacancies, Placements, and Disengaged Persons.—This table gives additional figures to those presented on page 993.

Shipping and Cargo Handled (pp. 334–342).—Statistics of entrances and clearances of vessels in the foreign trade in 1953 and 1954, and the total calls made in the foreign and coastal trade for the same years, are shown in the following table. The tonnage of cargo handled is also given.

Statistics of shipping movement and cargo handled at New Zealand ports in 1953 and 1954 are given below.

Railway Transport (pp. 346–354).—Summarized statistics of railway transport in the years ended 31 March 1953, 1954, and 1955 follow.

Road Transport (p. 367).—Statistics of motor vehicles licensed at 31 March 1954 and 1955 are as follows.

A classification of insured property losses through fire during the calendar year 1953 is given below. The figures are comparable with those covering the year 1952 shown in Section 34c.

The principal causes of outbreaks during 1953 are set out in the following table.

The following table gives particulars of rehabilitation-loan authorizations for the years ended 31 March 1954 and 1955, and the totals to 31 March 1955.