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other unwrought metals, tea, and manufactured goods and machinery of all kinds, while the staple articles of export are grain, hemp, flax, linseed, and other agricultural produce, and cattle. Of the exports in 1882, one half in value consisted of cereals.

The two principal countries trading with Russia are Germany and Great Britain. Of the imports, about 40 per cent. annually come from Germany, and 25 per cent. from Great Britain; and of the exports 32 per cent. each go to Great Britain and Germany, on the average of the ten years 1873 to 1882.

The commercial intercourse of Russia with the United Kingdom, according to the Board of Trade Returns, is shown in the subjoined tabular statement:

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The commerce between Russia and the United Kingdom was divided as follows between the Northern and the Southern ports of the empire, in each of the three years 1881 to 1883 :

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The chief article of export from Russia to the United Kingdom is grain, mainly wheat. The grain and flour exports were of an annual

average value of over 8 millions sterling during the five years 1879 to 1883. (See table below.) The principal other articles of export to Great Britain in the year 1883 were flax, exported to the value of 1,645,4687.; wood and timber, 3,077,2817.; flax seed, rape, and linseed, exported to the value of 1,807,9571.; hemp, exported to the value of 481,0967., and wool 915,7637. Minor articles of export to Great Britain are tallow and stearine; bristles; cordage and twine; oil-seed cake; and tar. The principal British imports into Russia in the year 1883 were iron, wrought and unwrought, of the value of 716,1517.; cotton stuffs and yarn, of the vaine of 625,584/.; and woollens, of the value of 260,8217.; coal, 718,2461.; machinery, 1,042,5467.

The quantities of grain and flour, exported from Russia to the United Kingdom in each of the five years 1879 to 1883, from both the northern and southern ports of the empire, were as follows:

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Northern Ports. 10,457,892 8,306,082 6,098,715 11,328,944 15,942,086
Southern
7,965,046 4,891,318 5,620,169 13,936,721 13,564,262
Total

18,422,938 13,197,400 11,718,884 25,265,665 29,506,548|

The declared value of the exports of grain and flour from the northern ports in the year 1883 was 6,102,0177., and from the southern ports it was 5,328,6771. Thus, the total value of these exports of Russia to the United Kingdom amounted to 11,430,6947. in 1883. The total was 10,085,0497. in 1877; 8,334,1717. in 1878; 7,379,2857. in 1879; 5,393,4767. in 1880; 4,869,280l. in 1881; and 10,935,1217. in 1882.

Of the total area of Russia in Europe, 63.6 per cent. is regarded as productive, and 36-4 per cent. unproductive. Of Finland the productive area is 61.2 per cent. Of the total area of European Russia, 38 per cent. is under forest, and 57 per cent. of the area of Finland. The value of the export of timber in 1881 from Russia was 6,600,000l., and from Finland 3,240,0001. Of the area of Russia, 21.6 per cent. was under cultivation in 1881, and 2-3 per cent. of Finland. In 1883 the cereal crops (excluding potatoes and oats) of Russia in Europe (exclusive of Finland) amounted to 133,681,000 quarters, nearly 4 times the quantity sown. total quantity exported in 1882 was 24,802,200, and 28,596,500 in 1883.

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In 1883, 139,115 acres were under tobacco, yielding 1,192,000 cwts. of tobacco.

In 1883 Russia in Europe had 19,674,723 horses; and in 1880

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21,000,000 horned cattle, 4,500,000 sheep; in 1876, 2,000,000goats, and 10,374,000 swine. In 1881 the number of horses exported was 23,567; of cattle, 23,822 (47,504 in 1879); of sheep 581,385, and 18,690 tons of wool; of swine, 530,440.

The following table shows the quantities in poods of the leading. minerals and metals produced in 1877–81 :

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Poods Pds. Pds. Poods Poods Poods

In thousands of poods

2,703 110,120 12,511 28,952 5,802 154,034 15,324 47,679 12,920 178,238 21,476 49,930 18,761 200,943 21,498 47,572

2,502 681 105 73,517 282,724 213,931 24,403 16,265
2,572 699 126 85,281 283,398 214,864 25,473 16,669
2,632 697 138 82,842 263,588 190,688 26,413 17,101
2,641 616 180 69,947 267,800 195,518 27,375 17,941
2,244 576 182 60,218 277,641 211,465 28,662 17,839 17,907 213,258 40,475 50,734

Both coal and iron have still to be imported to a large extent. In 1883 the Russian railways consumed 205,800,000 cubic feet of wood. The coal mines in the Don are yearly extending; in 1883 they occupied 9,608 men and 120 engines, the produce reaching 108,000,000 poods. The Caspian naphtha industry is also extending rapidly; in 1883, 60,000,000 poods of naphtha were extracted, yielding 14,252,626 poods pure oil, besides other products. The number of furnaces in Russia in 1881 was 1,633. There is also considerable iron industry in Finland. The number of persons engaged in the mining and working of minerals was 392,046 in 1880.

The number of manufactories in European Russia (without Finland) in 1881 was 31,947, employing about 813,304 workpeople. Domestic manufacture in many branches of industry is carried on to a very large extent. The total value of the produce of the large factories in 1881 was 123,487,9007. Of spirit from grain and potatoes, 87,210,000 gallons were produced in 1883.

The commercial navy of Russia consisted in the year 1883 of 187 steamers, of 138,291 tons, and 2,155 sailing vessels, of 477,072 tons. About one-fourth of the vessels were engaged in trading to foreign countries, and the remainder coasting vessels, many of them belonging to Greeks, sailing under the Russian flag. Not included in the return were about 400 trading steamers on the rivers and lakes of the empire, very nearly two-thirds of the number on the river Volga and its affluents. In 1882 13,032 vessels, of 5,000,000 tons, entered, and 13,839, of 4,956,000 tons, cleared the Russian ports, more than half at the Baltic ports, and about one-third at the southern ports; 2,660 of them were British. In the coasting trade 35,083 vessels participated in 1882.

The latest official returns state that on the 1st of January 1883,

the total length of railways in Russia in Europe, inclusive of Finland, open for traffic had increased to 15,274 English miles. During the year 1,032 miles of new railway were sanctioned by the Government. Of the lines open, 13,670 miles belonged to private companies and the remainder to the State. At the same date there were 745 miles of railway in Finland, nearly all belonging to the State.

On the proposition of the Minister of Public Works, the Emperor sanctioned, in June 1875, the extension of the then existing system by 6,500 versts, or 4,333 English miles, which, added to the 2,500 versts, or 1,666 English miles, previously sanctioned, raised the total to 9,000 versts, or 6,000 English miles. The new network is divided into four classes, according to different degrees of urgency, and the first of these classes will include the Siberian Railway and the seven projected lines in the coal basin of the Don; 2,600 versts, or 1,734 English miles, are assigned to this class, at the head of which has been placed the immense Siberian line, reported as 'most urgent' by a Special Commission on Railways summoned in 1870. It is from a station on this line, probably Tiumen, that the Central Asian line to Tashkend is to take its rise, the continuation of the Orenburg line in that direction having been condemned as impracticable, owing to the inhospitable nature of the country it would have to traverse. The importance of the seven lines for the coalfields of the South is great, as the new railways will traverse this field in every direction, and connect it on one side with the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and on the other with the existing trunk lines of the Empire. A branch of the Siberian railway has been opened between Perin and Ekaterineburg, connecting the chief ironworks of the Ural; it will be continued to Tiumen.

In 1880-81 a railway for military purposes was constructed from Mikhailovsk on the S.E. shore of the Caspian to Kizil Arvat, 142 miles in length; it is now (1885) being extended to Askabad. The railway joining the Black Sea and the Caspian was completed in 1883.

On the 1st of January 1879 there were 45 railway companies existing in the empire. Of this number, 10 had constructed their lines altogether without Government assistance; while the remaining 35 were guaranteed-15 to the full amount of their capital, and the other 20 only to a partial extent. The entire sum guaranteed in 1874 by the State in the shape of interest and repayment of capital amounted to 51,177,627 roubles. During the years 1878-81 an average of 16,543,000 roubles was paid out of the exchequer to the railway companies. In 1884 the sum of 14,120,000 roubles was assigned for this object, against 13,500,000 in 1883. The charters granted

to railway companies are for the most part terminable after between 75 and 85 years; but some small companies have charters only for

37 years.

The following table shows the gross receipts, the working expenses, and the net receipts of the Russian railways during each of the ten years from 1872 to 1881:

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The gross receipts in 1883 amounted to 233,250,160 roubles. It appears from official returns referring to the end of the year 1878, that at that date the capital of all the railway companies amounted to 1,450,288,196 roubles, or 207,184,0287. The capital consisted of 135,446,1537. in bonds and 71,737,8751. in shares. less than 92,101,350l. of the bonds and 9,055,750l. of the shares were held by the Government themselves; 48 8-10 per cent. of the whole railway property of the country was therefore held by the Government.

The Post-office in the year 1883 conveyed 135,386,330 letters and post cards, 13,336,180 parcels, and 100,135,831 journals. There were 4,586 post-offices in the empire in 1882. The total receipts of the General Post in the year 1882 did not cover the expenditure. In Finland there were 139 post-offices. The number of letters conveyed in 1882 was 3,078,202; parcels, 413,139 ; journals, 8,069,649.

The length of State telegraph lines in Russia in 1883 was 65,726 English miles, and the length of wire 148,532 English miles. Of the total system, about seven-eighths was the property of the State. There were at the same date 3,171 telegraph offices. The total number of telegrams carried in 1883 was 10,222,664. The receipts of the telegraph office showed, in recent years, a small annual surplus, which is, by Imperial decree, always devoted to the extension of the telegraphic system.

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