40 THE DECENTRALISATION 



years before the general increase of duties the 

 proportion of manufactured goods to the aggre- 

 gate imports has been on a steady decrease. 

 Manufactured goods make now only one-fifth of 

 the imports, and only occasionally rise to one- 

 third, as was the case in 1910 a year of maximal 

 imports. Besides, while the imports of Britain 

 into Russia were valued at 16,300,000 in 1872, 

 they were only 6,884,500 to 11,320,000 in the 

 years 1894 to 1909. Out of them, manufactured 

 goods were valued at a little more than 2,000,000 

 the remainder being either articles of food or 

 raw and half-manufactured goods (metals, yarn 

 and so on). They reached 15,300,000 in 1910 

 a year of maximum, and consisted chiefly of 

 machinery and coal. In fact, the imports of 

 British home produce have declined hi the course 

 of ten years from 8,800,000 to 5,000,000, so as 

 to reduce in 1910 the value of British manufac- 

 tured goods imported into Russia to the following 

 trifling items : machinery, 1,320,000 ; cottons 

 and cotton yarn, 360,000 ; woollens and woollen 

 yarn, 480,000 ; chemical produce, 476,000 ; 

 and so on. Ifcut the depreciation of British 

 goods imported into Russia is still more striking. 

 Thus, in 1876 Russia imported 8,000,000 cwts. of 

 British metals, and they were paid 6,000,000 ; 

 but in 1884, although the same quantity was 

 imported, the amount paid was only 3,400,000. 



