17 



The volume of trade with Italy declined from 82,585 tons in 

 1912 to 19,903 tons in 1918 (the last statistics). It represented 

 1.54 per cent, of the total. 



Italy exported to Portugal beans, sulphur, and silks, and 

 imported from Portugal canned fish and little else. 



Trade with France consists in the import of confectionaries, 

 luxury articles (velvets, silks, &c.), automobile, machines, 

 perfumes, &c., and France buys wines, dye-woods, and a few 

 colonial products. 



Trade Prospects. 



The prospects of Portuguese trade, generally speaking, are 

 vast, provided no one-sided protectionist tariff wall is erected. 

 Trade reciprocity is imperative. There is no buying where selling 

 is impossible. 



The co-operation of British capital in assisting the recon- 

 struction of Portugal would largely contribute to strengthen the 

 old and traditional ties between the two countries. British capital 

 might take a large share in harnessing the waterfalls of Portugal, 

 with the advantage of securing a new field of operations in 

 substitution of the market for coal that is sure to disappear sooner 

 or later. Portugal might supply England with much more fruit, 

 vegetables, eggs, cheese, cork manufactures, fish, oysters, light 

 wines, mineral table waters, flowers, &c. The southern districts 

 of Portugal are a fortnight in advance of the northern, and a few 

 weeks in advance of Northern Spain and France, 



Trade with Spain would easily increase if a sound under- 

 standing between both countries was established. The Douro 

 waterfalls could only be utilised in Portugal by means of a 

 Spanish Convention, but unfortunately no agreement has been 

 arrived at and an immense power supply in Europe is going to 

 waste. 



The water that might be harnessed at Bodam, on the Tagus, 

 would only be fully utilisable if the Spanish Government agreed 

 to the reservoirs that ought to be built in Spain. An intimate 

 co-operation between both peoples would be reciprocally 

 advantageous. Colonial goods that find such a big market in 

 Spain are seldom imported from Portugal, notwithstanding the 

 proximity and transport facilities. A number of Spanish 

 industries might find in Portugal a ready outlet. 



A high speed electric railway between Madrid and Lisbon 

 would intensifv commercial intercourse. 



France, with her colonial empire, with her wines and table 

 waters, is not exactly a natural purchaser of Portuguese goods. 

 The Portuguese light wines imported into France lose their 

 nationality and are absorbed by the Bordeaux brands. But the 



