ON THE USE OF INDEX NUMBERS. 865 
Hezports of 1883 
At prices of 1883 . 5 . Index No. 1,000 = 240,000,000/7. value 
— 1879 . ; 7 ¥ 1,006 = 242,000,0002. 
sg 1875 . ‘ . oc 1,277 = 306,000,0002. 
59 USZay i F . ‘ 1,463 = 351,000,000/. 
“ 1865 . } ; * 1,497 = 359,000,0007. 
5 1884 . 3 5 Ps 1,010 = 243,000,0007, 
B.—Ezxports of five different years in Index Numbers, with those numbers 
as they would have been if changed into prices of 1883. 
The Black Figures at 1883 prices. 
| 1888 | 1879 1875 1873 1865 
Cottons . / : F | 299 | 255 | 245 | 287 | 234} 312 | 288 | 238 | 181 
Linen and Jute |; 386| 33) 32) 43] 88 44 | 36 | 49 | 386 
Woollens | 89} 80] 86] 110] :1] 123] 98! 107]! 82 
PET ea =r el Eel 
Chief Textiles. | 424 | 368 | 863 | 440 | 8363 | 479 | 367 | 394 | 249 
meee or 48)! 30") 88 /F 40°)" 28 55 | 25) 19] 18 
Tron . i : 118 81 81 | 107 76 161 84 64 49 
Other Metals , . sel 2bclee L8ee Del > 20 Loa y 22 [45 beh, jel 
| | 
Chief Minerals ; 183 | 129 | 182 | 167 | 119; 238 } 124| 100} 81 
Other enumerated . , 99) 79| 77 | 86) 7% 90} 73 | 58| 46 
All other goods : : 294 | 222 | 221 | 238 | 202 256 | 175 | 140 94 
Totalexports. ./1,000 | 798 | 798 | 931 | 789 | 1,063 | 727 | 692 | 460 | 
a | { 
Actual values. At prices of 1883. 
Index No. £ Index No. £ 
1883 F 1,000 = 240,000,000 - 1,000 240,000,000 
1879 “ 798 = 192,000,000 4 798 192,000,000 
1875 ‘ 931 = 223,000,000 ‘ 739 177,000,000 
1873 : 1,063 = 255,009,000 3 727 174,000,000 
1865 - 692 = 166,000,000 A 460 111,000,000 
1884 4 970 = 233,000,000 : 1,010 243,000,000 
The index number of 1,000 that has been employed to represent the 
240,000,000/. of British produce and manufactures exported in 1883, and 
to which all the other numbers have the same relation, might have been 
applied to the value of 1884, and would have been so done but that the 
‘ Statistical Abstract’ for last year was not published in time. The 
figures required could be gathered from other sources, but not in quite 
the arrangement of their component parts whieh fits them for the com- 
parison that will be made when the ‘ Abstract ’ makes its appearance.' So 
large an index number has been used for convenience in calculating the very 
numerous items depending upon it, but it is obvious that by cutting off 
the three ciphers and prefixing or inserting the decimal point in other 
places, we shall have the relation of all the other figures to the value of 
1 Vide end of paper, pp. 872-3. 
1885. 3K 
