85 



prices were at one time very high as a result of high rates of foreign exchange. 

 In 1910, however, Greek money was actually at a premium in Greece, and 

 yet there were no signs of a fall in prices. In both countries the mercantile 

 community are accused of maintaining this reign of high prices for their own 

 selfish ends. It is difficult, however, for an outsider to judge fairly of the 

 position. 



In 1909 Spain imported about 695,930 worth of wheat, and in 1908 about 

 777,520 worth; whilst of maize 1,025,260 worth was imported in 1909, 

 and 1,519,260 worth in 1908. 



I have already stated that the bulk of the maize appears to be drawn 

 from the Argentine Republic ; the imported wheat, on the other hand, comes 

 almost entirely from Russian ports. In view of the high ruling rates in 

 Spain, it may be asked whether Australian exporters might not find it to 

 their advantage to look occasionally to Spanish ports as a suitable outlet 

 for some of our surplus corn. 



GENERAL IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN. 



Our short three weeks' visit to Spain came to an end on November 2nd, 

 when from Barcelona we set out for Marseilles. The hasty impressions formed 

 in the course of a flying visit do not perhaps go much beneath the surface 

 of things, they have, nevertheless, a peculiar value of their own, in that they 

 leave on the mind a panoramic record which closer and longer associations 

 are too apt to efface. For the attentive observer a brief visit places every- 

 thing in perspective, and thus he is perhaps better able to judge of the relative 

 proportions and relationships of things, since as yet the woods are not hidden 

 to him by the multitude of trees. Beyond these admissions, therefore, I 

 offer no apologies for a few closing reflections on a country that I had often 

 heard of, often read about, and always wished to see. 



I quitted Spain with the settled conviction that it is a country that has 

 received but scant justice at the hands of modern writers, or more correctly, 

 perhaps, that my personal conceptions of the country had been hopelessly 

 at fault. The picture of a helpless retrograde Spain, sunken in sloth and 

 ignorance, the mere shadow of her former greatness, has not infrequently 

 been drawn, and subconsciously, perhaps, for me this picture had represented 

 reality. Indeed, it is no easy task for the Anglo-Saxon mind to visualise 

 some other kind of Spain ; both history and tradition alike would appear to 

 forbid it. And yet quite other was the Spain that I saw in perspective during 

 those brief three weeks : a virile country, of those to whom future ages 

 promise much, and yet no more than the true reflex of its variegated past. A 

 country, too, of untold natural resources and hidden wealth, the surface of 

 which has been no more than skimmed. In these pages I have already 

 adverted to some of the agricultural resources of the country. In this direc- 

 tion it may be said, with unusual relevancy, that Spain is essentially a land 



