TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 697 



ployed ; and that the value of each specified article in the ' Trade Accounts ' issued 

 by the Board of Trade for the last eleven years, 1878-1888, has been converted 

 into such an ' index.' That same index-number has, for the year 1883, which 

 thus becomes the standard for comparison, been attached to the quantity of each 

 article, whether of import or export. The average price of each article in 1883 

 being taken as 1', the prices in subsequent years have been reduced to their 

 proper equivalents. The index-number for the value has been divided by this 

 equivalent, and the result taken to be the representative of the mlume. 



There is thus obtained an index-number having the li.xed relation of 1,000 to 

 240,000,000/., serving as an equivalent not only of the money values, but Ukewise 

 of the several weights or measurements in which the accounts of the articles are 

 registered. It thus becomes easy to see the relation between the volume and the 

 values of each transaction for each year brought to the standard of 1883, and com- 

 parisons may be instituted between the individual and the total values of one year 

 with all others for which the computation may be made. It should be mentioned 

 that many of the goods in which we trade are not capable of estimation by either 

 . weight or measurement, and therefore are not represented in the ' Trade Accounts ' 

 in any terms but those of value; also, that a number of the least important of 

 those which are so recorded in the Customs books are not named in the published 

 accounts. In the absence, therefore, of any data on which to work, it has been 

 assumed that the variations in price would be analogous to those of the specified 

 articles, and the indices for volume have been in these papers computed at the 

 corresponding ratios. 



In the paper read at Aberdeen the several details lor the British goods ex- 

 ported in 1884 were set forth in comparison with those in 1883. In that read at 

 Bath the same comparison was instituted between 1887 and 1883. On the present 

 occasion it is proposed to set forth in a similar manner the imports for 1888 in 

 comparison with 1883, and, both imports and exports having been calculated for 

 each year back to 1878, to quote some of these results as illustrative of the pro- 

 gress of our trade during those eleven years. One article — cotton wool — in which 

 our trade is larger than any other, whether of import or export, may serve to 

 explain the scope of the information the following table affords. 



In 1883 the weight imported was 16,485,121 cwt.; in 1888, 15,462,099 c-w-t. ; the 

 values as declared by the importers being 46,042,290/, and 40,000,086/. —which gives 

 the average price of 2-91 /.for the one year and 2'58/. for the other, being in the ratio 

 of !• to -89. From this it is evident that the lower price of 1888 would have 

 procured a larger weight than in 1883. The index-numbers for the values being 

 1877 and 166'6, we have but to divide the latter one by '89 to get the volume 

 which it represents, and find the index to be 187-2, or, rejecting the fraction, 187", 

 showing that the lower value of 1888 did not indicate a lesser volume of trade, 

 which is verified by the figures of actual weight given. Adopting the same method 

 with all other goods, we get inde.x-numbers representing gallons, yards, &c., as well 

 as cwts. These may be all added together, which the quantities could not. The 

 result, as shown in the totals of the following table, is that, whereas our whole 

 imports were valued in 1883 at 426,801,379/., or in index-number 1,779, and in 

 1888 at only 387,635,743/., the index-number for which is 1,616, or less by 9'2 per 

 cent., the volume index-number is 1,948, or more by 0-5 per cent. We have thus 

 gained in both ways, the saving in money paid and the enlargement of goods 

 obtained — the double benefit being equal to nearly 20 per cent, in favour of the 

 later year. 



Calculating in the same way the exports of British goods, it will be found that 

 those exported in 1883 were valued at 239,709,473/., the index-number for which 

 is 1,000; those in 1888, 233,842,607/., or in index-number 974, being less by 2'6 

 percent., whilst the volume inde.x-number is 1,121, or 12'1 percent, more than 

 that for value. The reception of less money and, at the same time, the disposal of 

 more goods is thus 15 per cent, to the disadvantage of 1888. It would appear, 

 therefore, that the general lowering of prices has not affected the nation's trade 

 adversely on our sales, to the same extent as it has acted beneficially on our 

 purchases. 



