NORWAY IIO g 



railways at a total length of 320 miles. In 1910 Norway got her first electric railway, belong- 

 ing to a private company, but electric traction is to be further expanded, the important line 

 between Christiania and Drammen being actually rebuilt for electric traffic. 



Agriculture. According to the latest official statistics (1907) the agricultural area 

 amounts to 2 . 2 million acres and the area suitable for agriculture to some 820,000 acres. 

 Since 1907 at least some 30,000 acres have been laid under the plough, the percentage being 

 greatest in West and North Norway. The characteristic feature in Norwegian agriculture 

 within the last decade has been the constant increase of small freeholders, having for their 

 specialty the cultivation of root-crops and breeding of cattle. The implements may gen- 

 erally be described as thoroughly modern. The export value of the agricultural prod- 

 ucts in 1911, chiefly hay, butter and condensed and sterilized milk and cream, was about 

 1,800,000. The produce of an average agricultural year may be valued at 14,000,000. 



Forestry. The total area of forests is approximately 2,750 sq. m., with a value of about 

 30,000,000. Upwards of 61.4 per cent of the forests are grown with pine and fir trees. 

 Next to agriculture forestry ranks highest from a national economic point of view, the export 

 value of its products for the last ten years being annually more than 4,000,000, besides 

 what is consumed at home. During the last decade forestry has made important progress, 

 chiefly owing to the scientific efforts of the Norwegian Forest Association (1898), which, 

 within the last five years only, has had annually planted between 10 and 12 millions of new 

 trees. It is still, however, the general opinion among forest experts in Norway that the 

 amount of annual lumbering exceeds the increase in the natural growth of the trees. 



Fisheries. Up to the close of the igth century the Norwegian fisheries generally retained 

 the character of coast fisheries which they had had for centuries. Since then an enormous 

 change has taken place. The great bank fishery, carried on with fishing steamers and motor 

 vessels chiefly from Aalesund (about 14,000 inhabitants), though initiated towards the close 

 of the last century, is chiefly a development of the last decade. The same remark also 

 applies to some other important fisheries. At the same time the great coast fisheries have 

 been thoroughly modernized as to outfittings, implements, etc. The Norwegian fishing 

 fleet consists at present of about 14,000 modern vessels, including 183 steamers with an 

 approximate value of 1,600,000. Along with these practical reforms, by which the Nor- 

 wegian fisheries are now extending over greater areas than formerly, energetic efforts have 

 been made and are being continued to improve the methods for the utilization and the 

 preparation of the produce, its transport, etc., the result being a great expansion of the trade. 

 In 1911 the value of the exports of fishery was estimated at 5,400,000 as against 2,700,000 

 in 1901. An important whaling industry has since 1906 been developed in the distant waters 

 of the South Atlantic. At the end of 1911 the number of Norwegian whaling companies was 

 about 50, with a share capital of i ,800,000, the profits for the season of 191 1 being estimated 

 at about 800,000. 



Mining. The oldest and most important branch of the mining industry is the working 

 of copper ore and sulphuric pyrites. It seems, however, as if within no distant future the 

 working of iron ore will become the principal mining industry of the country. This is 

 partly because of the extensive deposits of iron, chiefly in North Norway, estimated by 

 official experts at 175 million tons, yielding about 100 million tons of iron, partly because of 

 the rapid development of the electrolytic methods for the melting of iron ore, three important 

 plants having actually been laid down for this industry. The value of the exports of the 

 mining industry for 1911 amounts to about 700,000 as compared with 200,000 in 1901. 

 In connection with the mining industry must also be mentioned the manufacture of nitrate 

 of calcium, which is gradually developing into an important industry. 



Manufactures. During the first decade of the 2Oth century Norway became more and 

 more of a manufacturing country, the number of plants with more than 100 hands having 

 increased from 149 in 1900 to 220 in 1909. During the same period the total number of 

 hands increased from 80,000 to 105,000. About 34 per cent of the plants are owned by 

 joint stock companies with a fully paid-up capital of about 16,000,000, 61 per cent of which 

 is Norwegian and 39 per cent foreign investment. 



Shipping and Commerce. Since 1900 the Norwegian mercantile fleet has been rapidly 

 passing from sail to steam. In 1910 Norway had 1738 steamers and 1205 sailing vessels, 

 with a gross tonnage of respectively 1,470,385 and 685,072. Besides the sea-going fleet 

 there was a fleet of 104 motor vessels with a gross tonnage of 5,500, chiefly employed in the 

 fishing trade. The total value of the merchant fleet is estimated at 17,000,000 and the 

 annual profits to the country at about 5,500,000. The total personnel is about 37,000, 

 20 per cent being supposed to be foreigners. In 1910 Norway was owning 4.5 per cent of 

 the aggregate tonnage of the world. The value of imports has increased from 17,000,000 

 in 1901 to 26,000,000 in 1911, and the exports within the same period from 8,900,000 to 

 16,600,000, the latter increase being chiefly due to the number of new commercial products 

 within recent years, among them nitrate of calcium and condensed milk and cream. Great 

 Britain and Germany are still the countries principally trading with Norway, the former 

 taking the majority of her exports, the latter supplying most of her imports. The statistics 

 of the last three years, however, show a growing tendency to reverse these figures 



Government. The only important change in the system of parliamentary government 



