The value of imports and exports of the leading agricultural products in 1896 and 1897 was as follows (in guilders) : The import of bulbs, shrubs, and trees was valued for 1897 at 425,000 gl., the export at 5,109,000 gl.; for 1896, 347,000, and 6,032,000 gl.; vegetables at 1,752,000 gl. import and 39,167,000 gl. export in 1897, and 1,627,000 and 27,106,000 gl. in 1896. II. MINING AND MANUFACTURES. A few coal mines are found in the province of Limburg; they belong to the State. The quantity of coal extracted in 1897 was 103,955,000 kilos., valued at 412,873 gl.; clear revenue, 145,041 gl.; part of the State, 45,020 gl. There are no official returns of all the manufacturing industries. According to the last reports there were, in 1897: 544 distilleries, 10 sugar refineries, 31 beet-sugar manufactories, 47 salt works, 498 breweries and 92 vinegar manųfactories. The total number of manufactories which made use of steam-engines at the end of 1897 was 4,375; the number of engines, 5,075. III. FISHERIES. In 1897 5,318 vessels of all kinds were engaged in the fisheries, with crews numbering about 18,387. The produce of the herring fishery in the North Sea was valued at 5,567,756 guilders. The total number of oysters produced in 1897 amounted to 40,000,000; aboutone-fourth part of it exported to England. Commerce. The Netherlands is a free-trading country. A few duties are levied, but they have only a fiscal, not a protectionist character. The duties amount usually to 5 per cent. of the value of manufactured articles, and nihil or only 2 per cent. if these articles are used for the industries of the country. No official returns are kept of the value of the general trade, but only of the weight of the goods. The growth of the total commerce of the Netherlands may be seen from the fact that in 1872 the total imports were estimated at 6,451 million kilogrammes, and the exports at 2,956 millions; while in 1897 the former were 22,426 million kilogrammes, and the latter 14,075 millions, exclusive of goods in transit. The following are the estimates of the imports for home consumption and the exports of home produce for five years :— The values of the leading articles of import and export in 1896-1897 were (in thousands of guilders) : The following table shows the value of the imports and exports of the great classes of products in 1896 and 1897 (in 1,000 gl.): For the last five years the returns were, in millions of kilogrammes: The following table shows the value of the trade with the leading countries for the last five years, in millions of guilders :- In the Netherlands the statistics give sometimes the real, sometimes the official, value of goods. For goods liable to an ad valorem import duty and for some articles duty-free, the importer has to declare the real value according to the current prices of the day; in case of disagreement, the fiscal authorities may acquire the goods at the declared value increased 10, 11, or 12 per cent. To other goods the official values, unchanged since 1862, are applied. Every declaration of imports and of exports is, in principle, subject to verification, but in fact only those relating to goods subject to duty are checked. Returns are made out in gross weight, in net weight (with deduction of an official tare), in number or in value according to the nature of each case. When goods are imported or exported by river the neighbouring country is always regarded as the country of origin or of destination: thus imports really from France are attributed to Belgium. When transport is by sea, generally the real country of origin is given; thus Spanish wines are set down as from Spain, unless they have been imported first into some other country, in which case they are attributed to that country. The total value of the imports from the Netherlands into Great Britain, and of the exports of British and Irish produce to the Netherlands, in each of the last five years is shown in the table following, according to the Board of Trade returns : The principal articles of trade between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands (Board of Trade Returns) in two years were : Much of the trade here entered as with the Netherlands consists of goods in transit from and to Germany, notably the imports of silk goods which are from Rhenish Prussia. Shipping and Navigation. The number of vessels belonging to the mercantile navy at the end of 1897 was: Sailing vessels 441, of 95,226 English tons; steamers 171, of 211,426 English tons. The following table gives the number and tonnage (in English measurement) of vessels which entered and cleared the ports of the Netherlands :- Of the total number in 1897, 2,995 Dutch vessels entered with a tonnage of 2,108,070, and 8,240 foreign vessels with a tonnage of 6,421,206; 3,106 Dutch vessels cleared, with a tonnage of 2,114,088, and 7,992 foreign vessels with a tonnage of 6,285,624. The vessels with cargoes which entered at the chief ports were as follows: The number of Dutch vessels engaged in the carrying trade between foreign ports was, in 1896, 2,696, with a tonnage of 1,782,390. The coasting trade is of no importance. Internal Communications. I. CANALS AND RAILWAYS. The length of navigable water (canals excluded) is about 3,000 miles. |