=440. Development of English commerce since 1850.=—An accompanying table sets forth the course of English trade down to the outbreak of the World War. The figures refer, as in the previous table, to imports for consumption in the country, and to exports of British and Irish produce. To indicate, however, the share of commerce which the English enjoyed merely as middlemen I add a column of re-exports, foreign and colonial wares imported but shipped away again. If the amount of these wares be doubled (since they figure both as imports and exports), and added to the other items, the sum gives the gross foreign trade (excluding that in precious metals). The system of valuation of imports changed in 1854; under the old system of “official” values the imports of that year would have been entered at twenty-eight million pounds less than under the new system of giving the “real” values. This table, therefore, is not directly comparable with the table of the preceding chapter; and to remind the student of this I have left a few years vacant, making a gap between the two tables. =441. Importance of England and of British Empire in trade of the world.=—A mere glance at this table will be sufficient to show the progress that has been made since 1850. Some idea of the importance of this trade, not only to England but to the world at large, can be gathered from the fact that it amounted, about the middle of the period, to nearly one-fourth (23 per cent) of the estimated total foreign trade of the world, and at the close of the period, (1912), in spite of the commercial progress of other countries, it was still one-sixth. If we extend our view to embrace not only the little islands in the North Sea, but all the countries depending on them and forming the British Empire, we find the trade of this group over one-fourth of the trade of the world. ANNUAL AVERAGE TRADE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, IN MILLIONS, STERLING, WITH ROUGH EQUIVALENTS IN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ========+==============+=============+========== | Imports | Exports |Re-exports --------+------+-------+------+------+---------- 1855-59 | £146 | $730 | £116 | $580 | £23 1860-64 | 193 | 965 | 138 | 690 | 42 1865-69 | 237 | 1185 | 181 | 905 | 49 1870-74 | 291 | 1455 | 235 | 1175 | 55 1875-79 | 320 | 1600 | 202 | 1010 | 55 1880-84 | 344 | 1720 | 234 | 1170 | 64 1885-89 | 318 | 1590 | 226 | 1130 | 61 1890-94 | 357 | 1785 | 234 | 1170 | 62 1895-99 | 393 | 1965 | 238 | 1190 | 60 1900-04 | 466 | 2330 | 289 | 1445 | 67 1905-09 | 522 | 2610 | 377 | 1885 | 85 1910-13 | 611 | 3055 | 474 | 2370 | 107 ========+======+=======+======+======+==========