--+-----------

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
-------------------------+-----------------+-------------------

[Footnote 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