Large estates prevail in the provinces of Zealand, South Holland, Groningen, and North Holland; small estates in North Brabant, Guelders. Limburg, and Overyssel. The number of estates was : 45.5 per cent. of all estates being held by farmers, and 54.5 per cent. by the owners in 1903. In 1888 the percentage was 415 and 585; in 1899, 43.6 and 56'4. The total number of cattle in 1903 was about 1,657,000; of horses, 296,200; of sheep, 654,300; and of pigs, 882,500. The areas under the principal crops, in hectares, were as follows: Oats. Potatoes Buckwheat 65,135 50,729 34,375 Wheat Winter barley Average, Average, Average, 1901 1902 1903 86,421 86,237 66,329 218,126 196,112 202,069 207,528 215,657 218,241 26,175 28,135 22,837 9,086 135,310 144,330 151,788 155,715 158,050 151,617 27,059 25,823 23,745 Beans 36,814 38,310 38,598 33,921 Peas. 16,493 23,016 Rapeseed 12,690 7,661 4,702 3,842 4,623 3,258 Flax. 18,530 14,685 The mean yield of these products was, per hectare, in hectolitres (1 hectolitre 2.75 bushels) : The value of imports and exports of the leading agricultural products in 1902 and 1901 was as follows (in guilders) :— The import of bulbs, shrubs, and trees was valued for 1903 at 892,000 gl., the export at 10,402,000 gl.; for 1902, 637,000, and 9,178,000 gl.; vegetables at 2,700,000 gl. import and 39,600,000 gl. export in 1903 and 2,700,000 and 42,300,000 gl. in 1902. II. MINING AND MANUFACTURES. A few coal mines are found in the province of Limburg; most of them belong to the State. The quantity of coal extracted in 1903 was 487,777,000 kilos., valued at 2,269,341 gl. ; clear revenue, 731,113 gl. ; part of the State from the State mines, 132,422 gl. There are no official returns of all the manufacturing industries. According to the last reports there were, in 1903: 535 distilleries, 12 sugar refineries, 29 beet-sugar refineries, 40 salt works, 477 breweries and 92 vinegar manufactories. The total number of manufactories which made use of steam-engines at the end of 1903 was 4,929; the number of steam engines, 7,055. III. FISHERIES. In 1903 5,922 vessels of all kinds were engaged in the fisheries, with crews numbering about 21,467. The produce of the herring fishery in the North Sea was valued at 8,586,588 guilders. The quantity of oysters produced in 1903 amounted to 1,923,691 kilos. 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. Treaties of commerce and navigation between the Netherlands and Great Britain (some of them having special reference to the colonies) were signed in 1824, 1837, 1851, 1856, and 1889, providing, amongst other matters, for the most favoured nation' treatment, terminable on a year's notice. 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 1903 the former were 31,688 million kilogrammes, and the latter 22,221 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 two years were (in thousands of guilders, 12 guilders = £1) : : The following table shows the value of the imports and exports of the great classes of products in 1902 and 1903 (in 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 veritication, 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 on transit from and to Germany, notably the imports of silk goods and metal goods. Shipping and Navigation. The number of vessels belonging to the mercantile navy at the end of 1902 was : |