Let us hope that the changes initiated by Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Government last year will alter these figures and make both the actual amounts and the proportions larger. It will be remembered that by the arrangements made last year British goods will henceforth have an advantage of 25 per cent. over foreign goods, including those coming from the United States into Canada. But it should also be remembered that, according to Sir Wilfrid Laurier's original proposal, the same preference was to be given to the goods of any foreign country which should give to Canadian goods as good treatment as is given to them by the United Kingdom; and that if this proposal is not carried into effect it is not the fault of the Canadian Government, but of the construction put, and no doubt properly put, upon our existing treaties of commerce by Mr. Chamberlain. Those treaties still prevent our colonies from giving to one foreign country preferential advantages which they do not give to other foreign countries with treaties; and so long as the countries affected are comparatively unimportant to Canada-e.g., Holland or Japan-the treaties will probably stand. But if, as seems not unlikely, Canada and the United States should come to their senses and agree to make reciprocal reductions in the absurd tariffs they now set up against each other, there can be little doubt that. those provisions in our commercial treaties which now prevent Canada from giving preferential treatment to foreign countries will suffer the same fate as our commercial treaties with Germany and Belgium, which were abrogated last year.

For our present purpose the lesson to be learnt from the above figures is that, in the case of the important colonies of British North America, not only has the trade of the United Kingdom with those colonies not grown faster than our general trade, but that the proportion of our trade with them to our whole trade is much less than it was half a century ago. Let us now turn to TRADE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM WITH AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND.

These are our most rising colonies, recently peopled from the
United Kingdom; and if the flag, coupled with similarity of life and
habits, is anywhere to show its predominance it should be here. Most
of these colonies, it will be remembered, always excluding New South
Wales, have become strongly Protectionist since 1879.

The aggregate imports have very largely increased, both absolutely
and proportionately. They averaged £6,000,000, or 3.3 per cent. of
our total imports in 1855-59, and £30,000,000, or 7.3 per cent. of our
total imports in 1890-94, and the increase has been fairly steady. Our
exports to these colonies have also increased-viz. from £10,000,000
in 1855-59 to £20,000,000 in 1890-94. But the proportion of the
export to our whole export trade has not increased. The percentage
was 8.4 in 1855-59 and 8-4 in 1890-94. Nor has it been steady. It
was as low as 6 per cent. in 1870-74, and as high as 10.2 in 1885-89
-the latter excess being probably due to the heavy borrowings of the
colonies in those and the preceding years.

It is not worth while to give similar figures for our smaller colonies
and dependencies; they would not alter the general result.

Let us now take the details of our trade with the principal foreign
countries:

TRADE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM WITH GERMANY, Holland, and Belgium.

It is

I have put Germany, Holland, and Belgium together, because it is
difficult to tell how much of the goods passing through Dutch or
Belgian ports is really intended for Holland or Belgium.
known that a large proportion is intended for Germany. The result
of the addition is, perhaps, not quite accurate, but it is sufficiently so
for our purposes.

The proportion of the import trade from these countries to our

whole trade is larger now than it was at the beginning of the period. It was 12.8 per cent. in 1855-59; it declined to 12 per cent. in 1860-64, but has since risen steadily to about 17 per cent. The proportion of our export trade to these countries is slightly less at the end of the period than it was at the beginning. It rose to 19.6 per cent. in 1870-74, after the Franco-German War, and has since fallen to about 14 or 15 per cent. The proportion of import trade from these countries is larger than the proportion of our export trade, a circumstance which is probably due to the fact noticed above that we export to India and other tropical and less civilised countries, that these countries export to Continental Europe, and that Continental Europe exports to us.

TRADE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM WITH FRANCE.

In spite of Protective tariffs, imports have nearly quadrupled, and exports have much more than doubled. The imports have always been very much larger than the exports, which is probably due to the fact noticed above that England exports to India and other countries, that these countries export to France, and that France in turn exports to England. This conclusion is confirmed by the circumstance that until the opening of the Suez Canal the re-exports of foreign and colonial produce to France (which are not included in the above figures) were very large. Much of this produce now goes direct to France.

The imports from France were unusually large in the years following the Franco-German War, probably in consequence of the payment of the German indemnity, and her proportion of our total import trade then amounted to between 11 and 12 per cent. In 1890-94 it amounted to between 10 and 11 per cent. Our exports to her were at their highest in 1880-84, when they amounted to £17,000,000, or 7-2 per cent. of our total exports. They have since sunk to

£15,000,000, or about 6.4 per cent. of our total exports. This may be due in some degree to her recent protective policy.

Let us now take the

TRADE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM WITH THE UNITED STATES.

This is, of course, one of our most important foreign trades. Both imports and exports have been subject to very great fluctuations, owing to the American Civil War, to lendings and repayments, to commercial booms and panics, and probably also to the commercial and financial legislation of the United States, which has been remarkably bad. The most striking feature in the Return is the remarkable growth of our imports from the United States as compared with our exports. It would be still more striking if we were to take present figures. This may be due in part to a comparative cessation of our lendings to the United States, and in part to the present McKinley or Dingley Tariff. But I cannot doubt that there is a still deeper and more important cause at work-viz. that the United States have become an industrial and manufacturing as well as an agricultural community, and make for themselves what we used to make for them. We shall have to look upon them in future as rivals quite as much as customers, and it will need no slight efforts on our part to maintain our position. Meanwhile we may comfort ourselves with the reflection that this change makes it their interest more than ever to join with us in maintaining the policy of the "open door."

It is not worth while to go through the cases of other countries in detail. The following Table shows the amount and the percentages for the countries named at the beginning and end of the period :

Imports from 1855 to 1894 and Exports from 1855 to 1859 are included in "Other countries."

The percentages of our import trade from Russia, Italy, Brazil, Chili, Peru, China, Egypt, and unenumerated countries, have diminished; that of our import trade from Turkey has increased.

The percentages of our export trade to Italy, Turkey, Brazil, and Peru have diminished; whilst the percentages of our export trade to Russia, Chili, China, Japan, and to unenumerated countries have increased.

The case of Egypt is, for our purpose, particularly interesting, because it is a country which has virtually passed under British dominion, though not under the British flag, during the period we are considering. Looking to the figures given in the Return from which we have been quoting, we find that both our imports from and our exports to Egypt, as well as the proportion of those imports and exports to our whole trade, increased largely between 1854 and 1870; that they then diminished; and that they have since 1875-79 remaind almost stationary.

The following are the figures as taken from Return C., 8211/96, pages 78 and 82: