316 REPORT—1904. 
It would appear that the Statistical Department is mainly dependent 
on the values stated in manufacturers’ invoices, that in general no second 
invoice is made for statistical purposes, and that such a change in custom 
as of offering goods to foreign customers on a c.if. instead of f o.b. basis 
would increase the apparent value of exports without any real change. 
A very large trade in precious stoues, to a great extent transit to 
Amsterdam, is said to be carried on, and entered very imperfectly in 
imports and exports. The Cape Government state the value of diamonds 
exported from them to England, e.g., as 5,380,300/. in 1902. The English 
import total only includes 46,841/. in that year. If any substantial quan- 
tity of precious stones is, as is supposed, imported into and kept in 
England, they are not included in our trade returns, and affect the 
balance of trade. 
The Committee have not enough evidence to know whether, on the 
whole, exports or imports are under-valued or over-valued in relation to 
their values as defined by the Board of Trade. 
Destination and Origin. 
As regards exports, on the form which has to be filled in, the final 
destination, or rather the place to which the goods are consigned, has 
been asked for many years ; but in Parliamentary Return 131 of 1904 it 
is admitted that this space has not always been accurately filled up. An 
appeal is made in that paper to chambers of commerce and merchants to 
pay more attention to this statement. 
It is to be noted that Switzerland and Bolivia, having no seaboard, 
have as yet no separate place in our trade returns. 
As regards imports there are admittedly very many errors, and it has 
been practically impossible hitherto to know the origin of those goods 
which come from countries doing a large transit trade. In the current 
year 1904, an extra question has been asked on the import form and on 
the re-export form, asking for the country whence the goods were con- 
signed as distinct from the country from which the goods were shipped 
on a through bill. It is intended to publish a supplementary table in the 
annual statement of trade, containing any information which this new 
heading brings to light, without as yet altering the existing tabulation. 
The Committee welcome this as a step in advance. 
J. Conclusion and Suggestions. 
The Committee are much impressed by the extreme difficulty of hand- 
ling statistics of International Trade, even when dealing with the reports 
of the United Kingdom whose genesis and meaning are well known to 
them. They recommend extreme caution in using any such statistics, for 
even when regard is paid to all the definitions, limitations, and sources of 
error analysed above, it is not at all easy to know within what limits of 
error the statistics may be trusted. Itis possible, however, to discriminate, 
and to state that some of the difficulties are comparatively unimportant. 
The treatment of improvement trade is a small matter. The differences in 
method of estimating values in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, 
Russia, and Austria should not have much effect when a period of more 
than a year is in question, while the methods of Holland and U.S.A. 
make comparison of their statistics with those of other countries very 
