648 REPORT—1904, 
Three cases were examined : (1) Effect of a change of value of agricultural 
produce’; (2) effect of changes of method, increasing in the same proportion the 
return to all outlay on cultivation; (8) effect of changes which increase the 
return to some scales of cultivation and diminish those to others. Decreasing 
returns were assumed throughout. 
In the first case a rise of price yields increase of rent generally, though on 
the question of the proportion which rent bears to total produce the result may 
vary with the intensity of cultivation. The second case is but the first under 
another form. In the third case there cannot be stated any general rule as to the 
direction of change. The combination of the second and third cases will give the 
most general case. The conclusion that improvements tend in all cases to 
decrease the proportion which rent bears to total produce, appears not to be sup- 
ported by the presentation of the case in diagrammatic form. 
FRIDAY, AUGUST 19. 
The following Papers were read :— 
1. The Incidence of Protective Duties on the Industry and Food Supply 
of France. By Yvns Guyor. 
From the inquiries made by ‘ L’Office du Travail’ on wages and hours of labour, 
and from the publications entitled ‘Bordereaux de Salaires,’ the following 
is the percentage, in numerical order of importance, of the two chief industries of 
France :—Labour employed on modes, lingerie, garments, 20°47 ; labour employed 
in textile industries (cotton-spinning and weaving, wool-combing and cloths), 14°17. 
Group I. includes 1,340,000 persons. All Customs duties which fall on textiles, 
and therefore raise the price of their primary material, by striking at their 
export, keep down the rise of these industries, and are one of the causes of a fall 
in wages. 
The three years’ annual average of exports of clothing and lingerie, before and 
after the tariffs of 1892, was:— 
Franes 
1889-1891 . : : : : 5 . 120,300,000 
1894-1896 . 4 , : : : . 93,800,000 
a fall of 22 per cent. 
The average rose again, 1900-02, to 184,100,000 franes; a rise, compared with 
1889-91, of 11 per cent. In the case of sewed lingerie the following is the position 
of its export :— 
Kilogrammes Franes 
1es9LBE9I 0", Oye “1,080;000 54,600,000 
TOOT + 2(. paige. nt Su-amgg gab 20,400,000 
TORT or Hiyromlye daltaye daoipy 19,800,000 
Some woven stuffs, such as Irish linen, cannot be produced in France. The 
Customs duties prohibit their entry, and the manufacture of a certain number of 
articles has to be left to foreign competitors 
It is the same in the case of the export of men’s made-up garments : 
Kilogrammes Francs 
1877-1886 : ; . 1,642,000 38,367,000 
1902 .. : ; . 1,117,000 17,179,000 
The export of made-up silk garments for women has increased ; this, however, 
is not due to protection, but to the increase in wealth of certain foreign nations, 
Cotton woven goods, raw, dyed, and printed, are worth, as exports, from 
3 frances 40 centimes to 5 francs per kilogramme ; linen woven goods, from 2 frances 
