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.
THE ALARMIST’S ARTS.
In order to obscure this important fact, while alarming the British public with the notion that English manufacturers are being ruined by German competition, Mr. Williams picks out half a dozen or so items of our imports from Germany, and then exclaims in horror at the amount of “the moneys which in one year have come out of John Bull’s pocket for the purchase of his German-made household goods.” He prefaces his list with the unfortunate remark that the figures are taken from the Custom House returns, “where, at any rate, fancy and exaggeration have no play.” That is so; the fancy and exaggeration are supplied by Mr. Williams. In 1895, he says, Germany sent us linen manufactures to the value of £91,257. He omits, however, to mention that according to the same authority—the Custom House returns—the value of the linen manufactures which we sold to Germany was £273,795. Again, he mentions that we bought from Germany cotton manufactures to the value of £536,000, but he is silent on the fact that our sales to Germany amounted to £1,305,000. He does not even hesitate to pick out such a trumpery item as £11,309 for German embroidery and needlework, but he forgets to tell his readers that the silk manufactures which in the same year we sold to Germany were worth £92,000. In the same way, were it worth doing, one could go through the whole of Mr. Williams’s list, pitting one article against another. It would be labour wasted. The simple fact is that, according to the authority upon which Mr. Williams relies for all the figures just quoted, our total exports to Germany exceed our total imports from Germany, and no trickery with particular items can destroy, though it may obscure, that broad fact.