GERMAN TRADE STATISTICS.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 8994, 5 January 1895, Page 7

GERMAN TRADE STATISTICS.

Consul-General Dnndas, iv a report on the trade of Hamburg, draws attention to the f&cs that that port can bout of more shipping than New York. He states that from the general depression of trade which Affected almost every part of the world Hamburg did not escape. There was, notwithstanding, as regardo both the volume and value a by no means insignificant increase in each of these branches. In comparison with the year 1892 the figures for 1893 of the volume and value of the importation by sea show an increase of 109,158.cwts and £3,318,570, and in the exportation of 4,233,597 cwt. and £4,534,251. The importation from Great Britain increased by about 151,000 tons in the volume compared with 1892, while the value increased by as much aa £998,177. On )ther hand, the exportation to Great Britain, both in volume and value exceeded (hat ot the year before by 21,100 tons and £293,679. While the increase in the i<nportwtion includes every country, it is worth noticing that the British East Indies, Venezuela, aud Rouniania, record a very conspicuous rise in their figures, and the countries in which a falling off is most noticeable are the United State*, Brazil, Bulgaria, and Servia. With regard to the exportation there is a considerable increase to the British East Indies, Brazil, Venezuela, the United States, and the Cape. These facts in the face of what has been characterised as a depressed year in commercial interests, would appear to indicate that German trade is steadily progressive. Referring to th» increased competition of German traders and manufacturers in various parts of the world, the Consul writes : —

"A note of warning to those interested *t home! I think it will be found, both in this report and in the f uturej that strikes in the coal industry have alienated wholesale trade and important customers from the jome coll ieriee—-trade which has never belonged to any but ourselves, and which hat now, thanks to ill-judged counsels, passed for ever out of our hands, and which, I firmly believe, not all the strike leaders or agitators in the United Kingdom will ever succeed in recovering. Can such things conduce to the general prosperity of the country, or bring any real gam or improvement in the condition of those most immediately concerned ? The production of coal inoreases annually, therefore you cannot afford to lose a cuitomer, and prices will come down, especially as science produce* aids and substitutes."