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History of the National progress - Continued. page 31 2 <3> 4 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amongst the articles classified as raw materials, coal - to which the material prosperity of Britain is more indebted than to any other single item in the entire catalogue of commercial products - has long held the first place. The value of the coal exported in 1851 was, however, estimated at little more than a million and a quarter sterling (£1,302,473). In 1871 the value was six millions and a quarter, or four and a half times as great as twenty years before. And since 1871, owing to what has been called the " coal famine," the value of the coal exported has been nearly double what it was even at that recent date. From six and a quarter millions sterling in 1871, the value of the coals, cinders, and fuel exported rose in 1872 to very nearly ten and a half millions sterling. The quantity, however, had only increased from 12,747,989 tons in the former year to 13,198,494 tons in the latter. The export of pig iron and of old iron for remanufacture has also greatly increased in recent years. It was less than half a million in 1851, but nearly four millions sterling in 1871, though in the latter year there was considerably more than the average sent abroad, principally on account of the events already referred to. Between 1851 and 1871 the annual exports of seed oil rose in value from less than half a million sterling to nearly a million and a half. Of unwrought leather there was exported, during the first-mentioned year, little more than one hundred and fifty thousand pounds' worth; in the latter year the value of the exports of this commodity was considerably more than a million. The exports of wool and of salt had each increased greatly in value in the interim, and there is a still greater increase in the value of the unwrought tin, and of the horses and cement, exported. The whole of this class of exports are gathered in one view in the annexed table
Value of the Raw Materials and Semi-Manufactured Articles Exported from the United Kingdom in 1871 and 1851
If the classification we have adopted be accepted, it appears that the value of the entire exports of raw materials was less than sixteen and a half millions sterling in 1871, and not even three and a half millions in 1851. Though this branch of the exports had, therefore, more than quadrupled in the interval, their total value, as compared with the class we are about to enter into, was comparatively small, being, in fact, less than one-twelfth in 1851, as well as in 1871. The total value of the food, drinks, and raw materials exported in the latter year was about twenty-six and three-quarter millions sterling. The total value of the manufactures exported in that year was upwards of one hundred and ninety-six millions. It will be convenient to consider the manufactured commodities exported under three heads: First, those belonging to the textile fabrics and clothing; secondly, hardware and other manufactures composed of the metals; and, thirdly, chemical and other miscellaneous products. By far the most important of all articles, not only among the textile fabrics, but in the entire list of British exports, is that of cotton goods. In 1871 the value of the exports of cotton manufactures and yarn amounted together to upwards of seventy-two and three-quarter millions sterling; in 1851 the value stood at over thirty millions sterling; so that the increase in this single class of manufactures in the twenty years in question was one hundred and forty per cent. - in other words, it was little short of two and half times as great at the later as at the earlier date. Cotton yarn was exported to the value of more than six and a half millions sterling in 1851, and to the value of upwards of fifteen millions in 1871; while of cotton-cloth or piece goods the quantity exported in 1871 was valued at fifty-seven and three-quarter millions, as against twenty-three and a half millions in 1851. The cotton industry of Great Britain is the most important single manufacture in the world. The benefit it confers upon the country may be gathered from the fact that, while of the fifty-five millions' worth of raw cotton imported in the year 1871, one-fifth was exported again in its raw state, and only forty-four millions' worth retained for home consumption, the cotton-mills of Britain were enabled, out of the amount thus retained, not only to supply the enormous home demand for cotton goods, but to export upwards of seventy-two millions' worth of piece goods and yarns to the rest of the world in addition. The year's profits to the nation from this one manufacture alone are therefore represented, firstly, by a gain of twenty-eight millions sterling in the value of the manufactures exported over that of the imports of raw material; and, secondly, by the supply of nearly the whole of the home demand in addition. Next in importance to the cotton manufacture is that of woollen and worsted fabrics - a manufacture of far longer standing, and indeed, until within the last century, still the principal of all the manufactures of Britain, but outstripped now by its younger rival, the cotton manufacture. In 1871 as much as thirty-three and a quarter millions' worth of woollen cloth and woollen yarn was exported from Britain, as against less than nine millions' worth in 1861. In the most recent years a remarkable increase has taken place in the quantity of articles of dress or clothing exported from the United Kingdom. In 1851 the value of apparel and slops, haberdashery, millinery, hats, and boots and shoes exported was not much more than three millions sterling. In 1871 the value had risen to more than eleven millions sterling. There is little doubt that this large increase is in the main due to the more general introduction in later years of a labour- saving invention of the greatest ingenuity. We refer to the sewing-machine, of which we shall have to speak more in detail hereafter. The next most important among British textile fabrics is that of linen and jute. The total value of the exports of articles manufactured from flax and jute in 1851 was a little more than five millions sterling. By 1871 the exports were estimated at more than double the value - namely, eleven millions sterling. In the article of empty bags manufactured of coarser materials, such as hemp, the exports, which were not £150,000 in 1851, had risen to £1,206,621 in 1871; and the exports of cordage and twine rose, within the same interval, from £240,727 to £366,365 The silk manufactures and yarn exported rose in value, from one million three hundred thousand sterling, to three millions three hundred thousand, in the twenty years' interval. The total value of the exports of the textile fabrics and articles of dress or clothing rose, from rather less than fifty millions sterling in 1851, to nearly one hundred and thirty-three millions in 1871; showing an addition of no less than one hundred and sixty-five per cent, in twenty years. In the following table the above results are collected in one view: -
Value of the Exports of Textile Fabrics and Articles of. Dress and Clothing in 1871 and 1851
Another exceedingly important division of the manufactures exported from the United Kingdom consists of hardware, machinery, and other articles composed principally of the metals. The total value of the articles embraced in this section of the exports was about thirteen and a quarter millions in 1851, while in 1871 it was rather more than forty and three-quarter millions sterling. Iron holds, beyond comparison, the first place in the list. Of heavier goods made of this metal, including angle and bar iron, rails, wire, plates, castings, &c., the exports in 1851 were estimated at less than six and a half millions sterling. In 1871 their value was twenty-two and a quarter millions; so that they had increased nearly three and a half fold in the interval. The value of the steam and other engines exported went up from less than a million and a quarter in 1851 to nearly six millions in 1871. The exports of hardware and cutlery increased in the same period from less than three millions to more than four millions sterling. The value of the arms and ammunition exported was nearly quadrupled; that of implements and tools was increased in a still greater ratio: the brass goods exported were of treble the value; those consisting of copper and lead nearly doubled in value within the twenty years; while the quantity of telegraph-wire exported, which in 1851 was so small as not to be separately noted, was estimated to be of the value of more than a million and a half sterling in 1871. In the following list, the values of the different articles in this class at the two dates are compared: -
Value of the Metallic Manufactures (Hardware, Machinery, &c.) Exported in 1871 and 1851
In the remaining class- - the chemical products and miscellaneous manufactures - the most considerable single item is alkali, of which nearly one and three-quarter million pounds' worth were exported in 1871, as against three hundred and sixty thousand pounds' worth in 1851. In the latter year earthenware and china to the value of more than eleven hundred thousand pounds were exported. In 1871 the value had risen to nearly a million and three-quarters. In that year, too, the miscellaneous chemical products exported were estimated at more than a million and a half, or four and a half times as much as twenty years before. The remaining articles in this class - painters' colours, candles, glass, furniture, leather goods, railway carriages, printed books, &c., all show a very large increase, the precise extent of which will be found in the annexed list: -
Value of the Chemical and Miscellaneous Manufactures Exported in 1871 and 1851
Taking the exports of manufactures altogether, it appears that their total value had within the twenty years nearly trebled itself, having risen from sixty-eight millions sterling in 1851, to one hundred and ninety-two and three-quarter millions in 1871.
Value of Manufactures Exported in 1871 and 1851
If we add to the above the value of the exports of food and raw materials, we find that the total value of all classes together had trebled in value in the twenty years: -
Value of Exports of British and Irish Produce in 1871 and 1851
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