The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-07 00:00:00

Our Foreign and Colonial Trade.

The following on the extent of our commerce with our
own possessions and foreign countries during the first
quarter of the present year is from the circular of Messrs.
Travers :—" Accompanying the present monthly returns is
a statement of our trade for the first quarter of the year with
the various countries of the world, and which possesses pe-
culiar features of interest from the fact that it embraces the
opening period of the transition consequent upon the then
rapidly approaching close of the American war, and also of
the first return to moderate rates of money and compara-
tively low prices of cotton after some years of an exceptional
condition. The value of our total importations from foreign
countries during the three months was 8 per cent. below
that of the corresponding quarter of 1864, and from British
possessions nearly 17 per cent. below. The falling off in
the latter case is entirely attributable to the decrease in
the value of the cotton and other shipments from India,
the total thence from January to March, 1864, having been
£5,893,389, while on the present occasion it has been only
£3,689,987. From Australia the value of our imports, con-
sisting of wool, copper, &c., has been £1,115,566, or nearly
double those of the same quarter of 1864, but those from
Canada show a reduction. The falling off in the case of
foreign countries has been principally in the instances of
Prussia and the United States. The imports from the former
country, owing to the diminished demand for wheat, have
been only £338,691, against £1,048,142 in the same period
of last year; while those from America, from the combined
influence of a diminished business both in wheat and cotton,
have been only £1,925,514, against £3,577,860 in 1864, while
they are considerably less than half of those taken in the
same period of 1863. The other countries whose consign-
ments to us show any material falling off are China,
Spain, and France. Egypt and Brazil figure respectively
for a rather largo increase, notwithstanding the fall in
cotton, the increase of cultivation having boon more than
sufficient to make up for the fall in price. The total ship-
ments to us from Egypt in the three months have been
£5,661,306, or about 19 per cent. in excess of 1864. Cuba
has supplied us so extensively with sugar that the total in
her case, which was only £335,375 last year, has been
raised to £623,176. As regards the degree in which our
own colonies and foreign countries have thus far been cus-
tomers to us this year, it appears that our own colonies have
taken goods from us to the value of £11,865,385, or more
than 10 per cent. in excess of the same three months of last
year, but that foreign countries have taken aboui7 per cent.
less, the figures being £23,770,322, against £25,923,186. A
great part of the increase in the shipments to our own pos-
sessions has been to India, notwithstanding the great fall-
ing off in the value of our imports from that region. Aus-
tralia, the Cape, and Mauritius have likewise taken aug-
mented totals. In the case of foreign countries, the
main increase in the, value of shipments has been to
France, Egypt, China, Japan, Mexico, New Grenada,
Peru, Chili, Brazil, and the Argentine Republic. Mexico
especially presents a favourable total, the figures
being £589,693, against £225,740, thus affording an indi-
cation of the benefits of the attempt to redeem that country
from anarchy. Our trade with Spain, in exports a 49 well
as import; shows a falling off.