, 1900-07-12
BENEFIT OF COLONIES.
Their Value as a Market for Products
of Parent.

Their Value as a Market for Products
of Parent.
The non-British world buys Is per
cent of its total foreign merchandise.
from the United Kingdom; the British
colonial world buys 43 per cent of its
foreign merchandise from the United
Kingdom. The total imports of tina
British colonies amoun to s1.075. 000.-
900 annually. and Great Britain. by
supplying 43 per cent of this instead OF
Is per cent, which h averages in the
commerce of other countries, makes an
additional market for $500, 600 900 an
nually of her products. Her total ex-
ports to foreign countries (omittins
the colonies) are 81, 100, 900 900, or Is
per cent OF their total imports, and If
to this were added a like percentage OF
the imports of the c%olonie her total
sales would be 81, 100, 600 900. instead OF
the grand total of 81. 4S0. 900 900 which
she enjoyed in 1896. the ear to which
these figures relate. 1t is thu appar-
ent that her sales are enlarged through
her olonial system in the sum of
about $500, 600. 900 in round figures per
annum. thus increasing by rs per cent
her total exports, and creating by her
olonial system a market for $780, OO,-
900 worth of her products and manu-
features.
Not only has Great Britain added to
her market by bringing the $50, 900 900
people of her colonies int the colonial
relationship, but there has evidently
been, through the material develop
ment which has followed this rela-
tionship, a great increase in the pur
chasing power. The construction of
highways. harbors, railways, and tele-
graphs has evidently quickened the
general business conditions and, wits
the increased activity and prosperity.
enlarged the consuming power.
That the construction of roads. har-
bors, railways, and telegraphs and the
establishment of postal and banking
facilities must increase the activity,
productiveness, and consequent con-
Stunning power goes without saying.
The railways now in the British colon
les alone are more than SIS 900 miles in
length, the telegraph lines nearly $780,
900 miles in length, and h highways
far in excess of that. A large proper
ton of the railway lines Is under the
control of. and in many cases operated
by. h government, and it Is an inter-
esting fact that the lines operated by
the government expend a smaller pro-
portion of their total receipts in run
ming expenses than those operated by
private corporations. In nearly all the
colonies there are savings banks in
conjunction with the postoffices, and
the deposits in the savings banks of
the colonies amount to more than
$500, 00O. 900.
In the import trade of Great Brit
ain the colonies also prove advantage
GUS from the British standpoint. Over
one-fifth of the more thai two billion
dollars which Great Britain sends out
side of her immediate limits in pur-
chase of supplies is spent among the
people of her colonies, anu thus large
ly contributes to the prosperity of Ell
Their British colonists or British cap
ital- That the Industries of the col
onies are to a considerable extent con-
trolled by British capital goes without
saying, and that the expenditure of
nearly $500, 000. 900 of British non in
British colonies each year for the
products of those colonies must benefit
h capital thus employed and so re-
fleet to the business advantage of the
home country whence that capital is
drawn is equally apparent. The total
imports into Great Britain from the
colonies in 1896 were over sea, 900, 900.
and in 1891 were over G99, OO0, 900, or
in round terms. $500. 900. 900, forming
more than one-ifth of the total i'm
ports into the United Kingdom.
The following table shows the ex-
ports and imports of the United King
dom to and from its colonies in 1897:
EXPORTS.