The United Kingdom is a free trading country, the only imports on which customs duties are levied being chicory, cocoa, coffee, dried fruits, spirits, tea, tobacco, and wine-spirits, tobacco, tea and wine yielding the bulk of the entire levies. In 1897 the imports free of duty (exclusive of bullion and specie and diamonds) amounted to 420,116, 2017., and those subject to duty to 30,912,759., duty-free articles forming about 93.1 per cent. and articles subject to duty about 6.9 per cent. of the total imports.

The declared value of the imports and exports of merchandise of the United Kingdom was as follows during ten years :—

The following table exhibits the average share, per head of population of the United Kingdom, in the imports, the exports of British produce, and the total, during ten years :-

1 In the United Kingdom the valuation of both imports and exports is made according to the bills of entry and the shipping bills, false declarations being punishable by fine. In case of imports, the control of the Customs administration, at least in so far as regards those articles which are subject to duty, is a guarantee of accuracy in the returns, but, as regards the exports, merchants are only required to furnish their declarations within a period of six days after the sailing of the vessel, and the only proof of their accuracy, if proof be needed, lies in an inspection of the bills of lading, the production of which the authorities have the right to demand. The valuation of imports and exports is checked in the Statistical Office of the Customs (to which a copy of the entry is sent), where the officials possess a knowledge of current values and where market reports and lists of prices current are readily available to detect any departures from substantial accuracy. It should be noted that the important difference between the system of the United Kingdom and other systems is that the former shows the values at the time of import and export, whilst in most other countries the values are computed at the prices of a year or more before. For goods imported the practice adopted is generally to take the value at the port of entry, including all incidental expenses up to the landing on the quay. For goods consigned to the English market for sale, the market value in England is required and recorded in the returns. This is ascertained from the declaration made by the importers, and is checked by the expert knowledge available in the Statistical Office, and by the pricelists and market reports of the day. For exports the value at the port of shipment is taken. Imports are generally entered as from the country whence the goods were last shipped. Thus, countries with no seaboard (Switzerland, Bolivia, S.A. Republic, and

The share of each division of the United Kingdom in the trade of the country is shown in the following table in thousands of pounds (sterling) :

Thus of the total trade, 90.8 per cent. falls to England and Wales; 7.8 per cent. to Scotland; 14 per cent. to Ireland.

The following table gives the total value of the imports of foreign and colonial merchandise, and of the exports of British produce and manufactures from and to foreign countries and British possessions in the years 1896 and 1897 :

Orange Free State) do not appear in the returns, and much of the imported produce of Central Europe is entered as from Holland and Belgium. But imports from the East which have been transhipped at Colombo or at Marseilles, and those from Chile and Peru, which have been transhipped at Colon, are, as far as possible, credited to the true country of origin. Imports from Canada via U.S. ports, and from the United States via Canadian ports are, as far as possible, assigned to their proper origin; but the distinction cannot always be made, and, especially in winter, an uncertain amount of imported Canadian produce is credited to the United States.

Exports are, as a rule, credited to the country of ultimate destination as declared by the exporters, but those to countries without a seaboard are credited to the country of the port of discharge.

G

The following table shows the value of the imports and exports of gold and silver bullion and specie in five years :—

The following is a summary of the imports and exports of the United Kingdom for the years ended December 31, 1897 and 1898. The figures for 1898 are those of the preliminary report :