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The total number of active breweries in the Beer-excise district was in 1902-03, 6,581; 1901-02, 6,674; 1900-01, 6,903; 1899-1900, 7,083. The amount brewed per head of the population in 1902-03 was in litres (1 litre 1.76 imperial pint) :-the Excise district 92, Bavaria 275, Württemberg 172, Baden 155, Alsace-Lorraine 66, the entire Zollgebiet 116 litres or 27 gallons. In 1902-03, there were 60,871 distilleries in operation, which produced 3,382,935 hectolitres of alcohol.

Commerce.

The commerce of the Empire is under the administration and guidance of special laws and rules, emanating from the Zollverein, or Customs League, which, since October 15, 1888, embraces practically the whole of the states of Germany, the towns of Hamburg and Bremen, with one or two other small places, having been then incorporated. Included in the Zollgebiet are also the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg and the Austrian communes of Jungholz and Mittelberg. A few districts in Prussia (2,648 inhabitants), in Baden (3,825 inhabitants), in Bremen (1,148 inhabitants), in Hamburg (7,567 inhabitants in 1900), remain still unincluded. Population of the entire Zollgebiet in 1900, 56,589,925.

Since 1879 Germany has been protectionist in her commercial policy. Of the total imports in 1903, the value of 2,895,815,000 marks was subject to duty, and 3,106,873,000 marks duty-free (these values being exclusive of the precious metals). The duties levied amounted to 557,719,000 marks, or 19 per cent. of the value of the imports subject to duty.

The import duties are in most cases specific, and they range between wide limits, falling n general more heavily on articles in proportion to the work which has been expended on them. For example, cotton fishing nets are liable on importation to a duty of 18. 64d. per cwt.; cotton packing cloth, 38. 93d.; unbleached coverlets, 30s. 6d.; unbleached closewoven tissues, 408. Sd.; bleached, 50s. 10d.; cotton velvets, 61s. ; curtain stuffs, 1168. 11d.; cotton embroidery, 1398. 9d.; cotton lace, 1778. 10d. Similarly, the duties on woollen goods range from 18. 6d. per cwt. on coarse felts, up to 2288. 8d. per cwt. on shawls. On pig iron the duty is 6d. per cwt. ; on rough bars, rails, &c., 94d.; on very coarse.iron and steel wares, 18. 34d. to 2s. 6d.; coarse, 3s. 0d. to 7s. 7d.; fine, 128. 2d. to 88s. 11d. per cwt. The duty on wheat is about 18. 94d. per cwt. On sugar the duty was formerly 20s. 4d. per cwt., but, under the Sugar Convention of 1902, it has been reduced to 98. 44d per cwt. for raw, and 98. 63d. per cwt. for refined sugar. Many raw materials for use in the industries are admitted duty free. These include coal, lime, tar, pitch, turpentine, wool and hair, raw copper, lead, tin, and zinc, raw hides and skins, rags, some chemicals (not alkali, alum, chloride of lime, nor salt). A few exemptions are also made in favour of instruments (scientific), ships, and engines, &c. for use in ship-building. Great Britain at present enjoys' most favoured nation treatment' in commercial matters in Germany not by treaty but under a German law which expires on December 31,

1905.

The following table shows (in thousands of marks) the special trade for six years:

The following are the principal details of the special commerce for 1902 and 1903 (20 marks=£1):—

In Germany, the average value of each article is fixed annually, under the direction of the Imperial Statistical Office, by a commission of experts, who receive information from Chambers of Commerce and other sources. There are separate valuations for imports and exports. The price fixed is that of the goods at the moment of crossing the frontier. For imports the price does not include Customs duties, cost of transport, insurance, ware. housing, &c., incurred after the frontier is passed. For exports, the price includes all charges within the territory, but drawbacks and bounties are not taken into account. The quantities are determined according to obligatory declarations, and, for imports, the fiscal authorities may actually weigh the goods. For packages, an official tare is deducted. The countries whence goods are imported, and the ultimate destination of exports are registered.

The imports of gold (coined and in bars) in 1903 amounted to 280,766,000 marks; of silver (in bars), to 21,412,000 marks; the exports of gold amounted to 91,634,000 marks; of silver, to 20,245,000 (only in bars, &c.) marks.

Some of the leading imports and exports under the above heads were, in thousands of marks value, as follows in 1903:

Water-tube boilers in the German Navy are mostly Thornycroft-Schulz and Dürr. The German fleet is distributed chiefly for home defence. For the present year the dispositions are:

Station

Battleships Armoured Coast Protected
Cruisers Battleships Cruisers

Modern Older

5

1st Squadron
2nd Squadron

Cruiser Squadron
Reserve Fleet
Far East

Some gunboats are also on these stations, and in Australian and African water.

Each Reserve fleet has two additional Coast battleships in reserve for it. The Kaisers are among the most heavily armed ships afloat, but the quickfirers are very liable to be put out of action. The Fürst Bismark is usually called an armoured cruiser, but is really almost akin to a battleship, little inferior to the Kaiser Friedrich III. The Wittelsbach and other new 12,000 tons ships are great improvements on the Kaiser Friedrich III., the Q.F. guns being mostly in armoured batteries amidships, well protected, and are frequently regarded as first-class ships, despite the absence of armourpiercing guns of large calibre. The Brandenburg class carry 4 11 inch of 40 calibres, the other two 11 inch (carried amidships) are of 35 calibres

only and weak guns. Their arc of fire is very restricted. The Siegfried and Odin types are coast defence ships that call for little notice. They are large targets and not very powerfully armed. The Hagen has lately been lengthened in order to allow of more coal being carried, and her sisters have been similarly treated. The Baden class have been reconstructed, but the old guns are retained, it having been found impossible to substitute modern pieces. The Braunschweig class are similar to the Wittelsbach type, except that the heavy axial fire has been reduced, and the main guns are carried at the same height as in British ships, instead of, as in the Wittelsbachs and Kaisers, at a greater elevation. The Deutschland class do not greatly differ in design. Of the cruisers the Hertha class have their guns protected by armour, and beyond being large targets are fine vessels. Little or no wood is used in them. The earlier cruisers are of obsolete type, and the Gefion's armour deck is partial only. The Gazelle is a small vessel of useful type. The Prinz Heinrich is an armoured cruiser, with her Q.F. guns massed amidship and protected by 4-6 inches of Krupp armour. With very slight deviations all the armoured cruisers are of this type. They compare in power with the British County class.

A 6.7-inch quick-firer was in 1901 adopted as the secondary armament of new ships.

Germany subsidises, as auxiliary merchant cruisers, five vessels with a nominal speed of from 18 to 24 knots or more, viz. the Fürst Bismarck (10,500 tons), Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse (20,000 tons), Kaiser Wilhelm II. (24,000 tons), Deutschland (23,000 tons), and Trave.

The German navy is manned by the obligatory service of the maritime population (seemännische Bevölkerung)-sailors, fishermen, ships' carpenters, and others; and also of the semi-maritime population—that is, of those who have smaller experience of the sea. All these are freed on this account from service in the army. Great inducements are held out for able seamen to volunteer in the navy, and the number of these in recent years has been very large. The total seafaring population of Germany is estimated at 80,000, of whom 48,000 are serving in the merchant navy at home, and about 6,000 in foreign navies. The naval personnel is 33,500 plus a reserve of about 110,000

men.

Production and Industry.

I. AGRICULTURE.

In Prussia, by a series of ordinances from 1807 to 1850, complete free trade in land has been established, and all personal and material burdens removed that would stand in the way of this. With the exception of the Mecklenburgs, similar legislation has been applied to the land in other parts of Germany. Generally speaking, small estates and peasant proprietorship prevail in the West German States, while large estates prevail in the north-east. In Prussia, large estates, with an area of 250 acres and more, prevail in Pomerania, Posen, East and West Prussia; while the districts of Koblenz, Wiesbaden, Treves, Baden, and Württemburg are parcelled out into small estates.

Of the whole area of Germany, in 1883, 92 per cent. was classed as productive, and only 8 per cent. as unproductive. According to the latest returns (1893 and 1900), 91 per cent. is productive and 9 per cent, unproductive. The extension of the unproductive

area is, however, only apparent, the waste lands in one portion now classed as such having formerly been included with the permanent pasture. The subdivision of the soil, according to the latest official returns (1900), was as follows (in hectares; 1 hectare 2.47 acres):-Arable land, vineyards, and other culti vated lands, 26,392,523; grass, meadows, permanent pasture, 8,662,874; woods and forests, 13,995,869; all other, 5,013,519.

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On June 14, 1895, the total number of agricultural enclosures (including arable land, meadows, cultivated pastures, orchards, and vineyards) each cultivated by one household, was as follows:

Their total area was 43,284,742 hectares.

These farms supported 18,068,663 persons, of whom 8,156,045 were actually working upon them.

The areas under the principal crops, in hectares (2·47 acres), were as follows:

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The total yield of their products in the years indicated, in metric tons (1 metric ton = 2,204 lbs. or 984 an English ton), or hectolitres (hectolitre 2.75 bushels), and in tons or hectolitres per hectare, was as follows: