IRELAND’S TRADE

New Zealand Tablet, 17 November 1910, Page 1877

IRELAND’S TRADE

SIGNS OF AN INDUSTRIAL REVIVAL The London Economist of a recent date devotes > an interesting analytical article to the report on the imports and exports at Irish ports during the calendar year of 1909, which is the sixth of the series prepared by Mr. W. G. S. Adams, Superintendent of Statistics to the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland. Mr. Adams has estimated that in 1909 the total external trade of Ireland amounted in value to £125,675,847, comprising imports £63.947,155, and exports 728,,692. Taking the population of Ireland in 1909 at 4,372,000 persons (an increase of 1000 on the year 1908), tho imports are £l4 12s 6d and the exports £l4 2s 4d per head. These figures (says the Economist) show how very large is the external commerce of Ireland in proportion to the total annual production and output of the country. Even deducting £2,700,000 of re-exports from each total, the imports for home consumption come to £l4 0s 2d, and. the exports of domestic produce to £l3 10s per head. For the United Kingdom as a whole the corresponding figures are

very much smaller, viz., imports £ll 17s and exports £8 8s Id per head ,of the , population (estimated at 45,008,000 persons in 1909). . Excepting Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, and New Zealand, the external trade of Ireland is greater in proportion to its population than that of any other country in the world. There is certainly no other country where the figures of imports and exports more closely approximate to a measure of the actual productive prosperity. From this standpoint we may conclude upon the evidence afforded by Mr. Adams’ report that the year 1909 was probably the most prosperous ever known. *n the economic history of Ireland. In many important items of. export the figures for 1909 are

The Highest Ever Recorded. This was the case with the linen manufactures, with both the raw wool trade and the woollen manufactures, with the bacon industries, with the eggs and poultry trades, and with the fishing industry. On the other hand, the live stock exports showed some diminution for 1909 as compared with 1908, viz.,, £14,873,426, as compared with £14,937,605. But then fat cattle were up, and the reduced number of fat swine fetched a very much higher value. The butter export has been declining since 1906, and shows now, at £3,625,111, a still lower figure. That steamships figure only at £2,175,000, as compared with £2,900,000 in 1908, means nothing, for, with the Olympic and Titanic on hand, everybody understands that the Belfast shipyards are full of work. But a truly symptomatic decline is found in the export of Irish whisky, valued (apart from duty) at £1,667,392 in 1909, compared with £2,195,959 in 1908 (a fall in quantity of 2,000,000 gallons). Now, for the first time, the export of porter (valued at £1,653,113) rivals that of whisky. Naturally, then, under barley and malt we find both a smaller importation and a larger exportation in 1909 than in 1908. We desire to learn how Ireland lives, considered as a single household. What are the principal articles which she produces for sale ? What are the principal articles which she requires to purchase ? To. answer these questions we require to see the particulars of the exports and imports of Ireland arranged simply in order of their magnitude by estimated values. This we display in the two following tables: The following were the principal exports of Ireland for the year 1909: —Cattle, all sorts, £10,689,356; linen goods, yarn, flax, £13,399,172; butter and margarine, £3,794,505; eggs, poultry, feathers, 753,,465; bacon, hams, pork, £3,562„860; steamships, £2,175,000; whisky, £1,667,392; porter, £1,653,113; cotton goods, £1,653,702; horses, £1,369,,395; swine, £1,451,605; tobacco and snuff, £1,432,608: raw wool, woollen goods, drapery, £1,671,973; total of above, £48,274,136; other exports, £13,454,556; total Irish exports, £61,728,692. The principal imports of Ireland during 1909 were: Wheat and .flour, £6,574,642; drapery, woollens, apparel, £5,128.665; iron and steel—(a) raw, £899,342; (b) halfworked, £1,010,000; (c) finished goods, £1>642,023 ; (d) machinery, £1,192,526; cotton goods and yarn, £4,860,973; maize, Indian meal, £3,883,454; coal, coke, fuel, £2,600,103; linen, goods, flax, yarn, £3,750,841; bacon, hams, pigs' heads, £2,227,742; sugar and products, £2,368,249; boots and shoes, £1,791,908: timber— (a) materials, £1,220,221; (b) finished goods, £522,886; tea, £1,180,260; total of above, £41,853,835; other imports, £22,093,320; total Irish imports, £63,947,155.. From an examination of these tables it will be seen that the largest item of export from Ireland is now The Linen Manufactures; that seven out of the thirteen largest items are the products of the capitalised industries; that the increased export of 1909 over 1908 is mainly derived from the increased output of these industries; and, in particular, that the Irish woollen industry has stepped up from the thirteeth to the seventh place among the exporting businesses of the country. It will be seen, also, that the imports into Ireland are more miscellaneous in character and more difficult to summarise in a few large items than are the exports. The largest item of importation in this agricultural country is shown to be breadstuffs. The large imports of maize, of linen goods and materials, and of pig produce are remarkable features. The item cotton goods and yarn imported is largely material which is re-exported after receiving further manufacture, and the same is true of the sugar imports. ' As we understand that Mr. W. G. S. Adams has now left the Irish Department of Agriculture, to accept a position at Oxford, we cannot conclude this article without some acknowledgment of the value of the services he has rendered to Ireland by the reports he has produced on the trade at Irish ports during the six years, 1904-9. His department possessed no statutory authority to require proper returns of imports and exports, and the only materials obtainable as to the external trade were those contained in the ' manifests '—shipping documents, in which are entered the items of cargo and their weight. As the descriptions of goods entered in the manifest is made only with a view to the rate-book, only a generalised classification of the goods is given therein. To obtain from such a source accurate particulars, to distribute general consignments among their particular classes, to ascertain

even approximately the net weight of the goods themselves, and reduce the variety of measurements to a common system, still more to ascertain the values to be placed upon the goods, this was truly a formidable task. But by tact and courtesy Mr. Adams has succeeded in enlisting such co-operation on the part of-the port authorities, the shippers of the goods, and the carrying companies, as to render this work possible of achievement. It stands to ' Mr. Adams credit that by the performance of this difficult operation he has produced a statement of the actual dimensions of Ireland s external trade which, it is no exaggeration to say, has literally infused a new spirit of encouragement and hope into the mind of everybody who is concerned for the future of Ireland. Nobody had any conception of the true proportions of Ireland’s trade until Mr. Adams began the publication of these reports.