This table shows that the Colonial producer stands to lose as much, or more, than the Colonial consumer by cutting off trade connections with Germany. What can we offer in return? It is suggested by the advocates of preferential trade that we should offer better terms to Colonial products in our markets. But already all Colonial products, except tea and coffee, enter the United Kingdom free, therefore we can only give better terms to the Colonies by imposing a tax on those foreign products which compete with the principal Colonial products. What, then, are these competing products? With some trouble I have extracted from the Custom House returns the following list of articles in which there seems to be tangible competition between foreign countries and British Possessions:— COLONIAL _VERSUS_ FOREIGN GOODS. Principal Competing Articles Imported into the United Kingdom in 1895. Millions Sterling. ---------------------------+--------------+-------------- | From Foreign | From British | Countries. | Possessions. ---------------------------+--------------+-------------- Animals, Living | 7·5 | 2·4 Bacon and Hams | 10·1 | ·7 Butter and Cheese | 14·8 | 4·0 Caoutchouc and Guttapercha | 2·9 | 1·2 Copper | 3·9 | 1·1 Corn and Flour | 44·0 | 5·7 Dye Stuffs and Dye Woods | 2·3 | 2·5 Fruits | 5·8 | ·6 Hides, Skins, and Furs | 3·8 | 3·6 Leather | 4·6 | 3·5 Linseed | 2·3 | 1·1 Meat, Salt and Fresh | 6·9 | 4·8 Oils | 2·9 | 1·6 Rice | ·6 | 1·4 Sugar (Unrefined) | 6·8 | 1·5 Tallow and Stearine | ·4 | 2·1 Wood and Timber | 12·4 | 4·0 Wool | 4·6 | 22·8 | | Coffee | 2·6 | 1·1 Tea | 1·6 | 8·7 | | Cotton (Raw) | 29·6 | ·8 Jute (Raw) | ·0 | 4·3 | | Other Articles | 150·8 | 16·0 +--------------+-------------- Total | 321·2 | 95·5 ---------------------------+--------------+--------------