OUR PRINCIPAL CUSTOMERS.
Let us now go a step further and compare our trade with Germany and our trade with other principal customers. The comparison is worked out in the following table, which shows the total imports into the United Kingdom from the respective countries, and the total exports from the United Kingdom to the same countries:—
Trade of the United Kingdom with the following Countries.
Ten Years’ Average, in Millions Sterling, according to British Returns.
| Imports into U.K. | Exports from U.K. | |
|---|---|---|
| From and to Germany | 25·9 | 29·2 |
| " " France | 42·6 | 21·7 |
| " " United States | 91·8 | 40·2 |
| " " British India | 30·5 | 31·3 |
| " " Australasia | 28·3 | 23·1 |
| " " British North America | 12·2 | 8·4 |
These figures are taken from the British Custom House returns, and are subject to the objection to which allusion has already been made, that the Custom House authorities have no means of ascertaining the real origin of goods entering this country, nor the real destination of goods leaving it. Thus, for example, everyone knows that there is a considerable trade between Great Britain and Switzerland, yet Switzerland has no place at all in the Custom House returns, because, having no seaboard, all her goods must pass through foreign territory, and each package is credited by our Customs House to the port—French, or Belgian, or Dutch—through which the package passes to England. In order, therefore, to provide some check on the above figures, I have averaged in the same way the figures collected by the different foreign countries in their Customs Houses. These foreign and colonial figures have no more title to be considered absolutely accurate than ours, nor do they cover quite the same ground. Their value lies in the rough confirmation they give of the very rough conclusion which we are able to draw from our own figures:—
Trade of the following Countries with the United Kingdom.
Ten Years’ Average, in Millions Sterling, according to Foreign and Colonial returns.
| Exports to U.K. | Imports from U.K. | |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 29·1 | 26·6 |
| France | 38·2 | 22·0 |
| United States | 84·6 | 34·2 |
| British India[1] | (Rx) 36·4 | (Rx) 60·4 |
| Australasia[1] | 28·5 | 27·2 |
| British North America[1] | 10·5 | 9·1 |
[1] These figures include treasure as well as merchandise.
On the whole, these figures tally more closely with those derived from British returns than might have been expected, and if we make allowance for the fact that the Colonial figures include treasure, it will be seen that both tables show that Germany is our best customer after the United States and India.