There is, however, another, though not entirely distinct, proposal for dealing with the alleged mischief of German competition. It is this—that we should try and persuade our Colonies and Possessions to give preferential treatment to our goods in return for a similar preference accorded by us to their goods. It would be unfair to call this scheme Protectionist in the ordinary sense of the term, for it is inspired as much by the desire to bring about a closer union of different portions of the empire as by the fear of foreign competition; but as it is with the question of foreign competition that we are here primarily concerned, we will deal first with the Protectionist side of the proposal. On this side the object aimed at is the destruction or diminution of foreign competition in our Colonial markets. Undoubtedly, were the Colonies willing to make the necessary tariff adjustments in our favour, that object could be attained and our German rivals could be excluded in part or in whole from Canada, from Australia, from India, or from the Cape. So far so good. But what would that exclusion be worth to us? In a previous article I referred to figures showing how insignificant as compared with our own is German trade with our Colonies. It is worth while to present these figures in a fuller form. They will be found in the following table:— IMPORTS INTO THE FOLLOWING BRITISH POSSESSIONS. Average of the Three Years—1890, 1891, 1892. In Millions Sterling. -------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+-------- | Total | Amount | Amount | Amount | Amount | Imports | from | from | from | from | from all | United | United |Germany | France. |Countries.|Kingdom.| States.| | -------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+-------- India | 84 | 58·9 | 1·5 | 1·6 | 1·2 Australasia | 66·6 | 28·4 | 2·6 | 1·6 | ·3 South Africa | 12·7 | 10·3 | ·4 | ·2 | ·04 North America | 24·6 | 9·2 | 11·2 | ·8 | ·5 West Indies | 6·4 | 2·8 | 1·9 | ·05 | ·1 Other British Possessions| 31·4 | 6·6 | ·6 | ·4 | ·6 +----------+--------+--------+--------+-------- Total | 225·7 | 116·2 | 18·2 | 4·6 | 2·8 -------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+--------