IMPORTS AND EXPORTS 32^5 



sold in London at a profit; and Irish cattle alone disturbed the 

 equanimity of the English farmer. 



For a few years after the repeal of the corn laws and of 

 the prohibition of imports of live stock, the imports of live 

 stock, meat, and dairy produce were, except from Ireland, 

 almost niP ; since then they have increased enormously, and 

 in 1 907 the value of live cattle, sheep, and pigs imported was 

 ^^8,273. 640, "ot so great, however, as some years before, owing 

 to restrictions imposed ; but this decrease has been made up 

 by the increase in the imports of meat, which in 1907 touched 

 their highest figure of 18.75 r, 555 cwt., valued at the large 

 sum of ;^4 1,697,905.2 



Forty years ago hardly any foreign butter or cheese was 

 imported ; to-day it is perhaps no exaggeration to say that not 

 one hundredth part of the butter eaten in London is British ; 

 in 1907 the amount of butter imported was 4,310,156 cwt, and 

 of cheese, 2,372,233 cwt. The increase in the imports was 

 largely assisted by the fact that in the last half of the nine- 

 teenth century English farmers had directed their attention 

 chiefly to meat-producing animals and neglected the milch 

 cow. However, of late years great efforts have been made to 

 recover lost ground, and in England the number of cows and 

 heifers in milk or in calf has increased from 1,567,789 in 1878 

 to 2,020,340 in 1906. 



The regulation of the imports and exports of live stock did 

 not concern the legislature so early as those of corn. One of the 

 earliest statutes on the subject is 1 1 Hen. VII, c. 13, which for- 

 bade the export of horses and of mares worth more than 6s. Sd., 

 because many had been conveyed out of the land, so that 

 there were few left for its defence and the price of horses had 

 been thereby increased. A subsequent statute, 22 Hen. VIII, 

 c. 7, says this law was disobeyed by many who secretly exported 



* In i860 the number of live cattle imported was 104,569; in i897> 

 618,321; in 1907,472,015. 



^ In i860 the quantity of beef imported was 283,332 cwt. ; in 1907, 

 6,033,736 cwt. 



