New-York daily tribune., 1858-02-03
BRITISH COMMERCE.


During the late extraordinary season Of tie
British Parliament, Lord Derby declared in the
House of Lords that, for the last three years the
value of British imports had exceeded that Of
British exports 10 the amount of fl50, 600, 600.
This statement gave rise to controversy, out Of
doors, come private individuals applying TO Lord
Stanley of Alderley, President of the Board of
Trade, for Information as TO the correctness of
Lord Derby's statement. The President OF the
Board of Trade, in letter addressed 10 Lis inter.
rogators, replied;
"The assertion made By Lord Derby IN the House
Of Lords that the value of import, during the las,
three wears had exceeded that OF our exports by
ESQ coo Co., is incorrect and arises from ,rd Derby
having taken the total value Of our imports. n,luding
our import. from the Colonies and fore; ~ countries.
while he has excluded the re-export of me.cband ze
which has been r.ceved from he Colonies and foreign
countries Thus Lord Derby'- calculation shows:
"Inpor'a'ions '..'''''.'..'.............t .tit91o@o
ENports' ''''''''''''''.''.''.'''..s psvNtvD
uce....................... sI6OcO.eo
Whereas i should be:
Impor:a'ions. St5s 100000
Export. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 57I,e0,eo
Difference. O-o,co'
The President Of the Board of Trade substan,stes
this assertion by adding to it comparative state
ment of the value of the exports and imports Of the
United Kingdoms during the years 1855, 1856 and
1857. This highly interesting document which is
not TO be found in the London newspapers, We re-
print below. First it will be seen that the Gaze
night be put in a shape confrmatory of Lord
Derby's assertion, viz:
Total imports. s+6s oc00o
British exports. po,ovtVc
Excess. Of mpor. British exports. fi6o Oo0ooo
Reexpors Of foreign produce tj"occ
Palance oftrade against Gres: Britain. a97ccc,OoO
Thus, there is actu.ly an excess Of foreign i'm.
ports over British exports Of l60 600 000 and after
the reexport Of g. 600 600 of foreign productions,
there remains balance Of trade against Great
Britain, as stated by the President of the Board of
Trade himself of 81 900, 600, or more than 81 000,
OCO for the average of the three years 1855, ls56,
and 1857. Hence, the recent complaint of The
London Times: "The actual losses sustained by
"tbe nation have been going on for the last five o-
six years, and it is only now that we have found
'Ahem out" These losses, however, arise from
the excess Of exports over imports but from the
specific character of great part OF the exports.
The fact is, one.half the reaxports consist Of
foreign raw materials used in manufactures serving
to increase foreign rivalry against the British IN
dusrisl interests and, TO some extent, returned TO
the Britshers in manufactured goodsfor therhome
consumption. The decisive point, however, - be
kept in view, is this that the large reGxports of
raw materials, resulting from the competition of
Continental manufactures, enhanced the price of
the raw material so much almost to absorb the
profit left to the British manufacturer On
former occasion, we made some statements in this
sense with respect to the British Cotton industry.
AS at the present mement the industrial crisis RACES
most violently in the British Woolen districts,
where failure follows upon failure, anxiously con-
ceaed from the general public by the London press
it may be Opportune to give at this place some
figures showing into what effective competition for
raw wool the manufacturers of the European Con-
tnent were entering with the British ones-a COM
petition which led to the unparalleled enhancement
in the price of that raw material, r',-""" ~ tire
manufacturer and fostering the now bown-up
.pecuatons in that article. The following state
ent comprises the first nine months of each Of the
L., ~ fivp