TEADE AND SHIPPING. 



153 



industries comprised 2,8G8 factories in 1877, Avith a total yield of £9,376,000 

 worth of goods, and employing GO, 089 hands, of whom three-fourths were adults. 

 The chief manufacturing centres are Goteborg, Stockholm, and Norrkoping, 

 producing between them one-half of the wares manufactured in Sweden. The 

 Norwegian industries employ 35,000 hands, or, in proportion to the population, 

 aboiit the same number as the Swedish, In some respects Norway is even more 

 favoured ; for, if less rich in iron, it imports English coal more easily, and main- 

 tains direct commercial relations throughout the year with Great Britain and 

 the mainland. Thanks also to its falls and rapids, mostly in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the coast, it disposes of even a larger water motive power than 

 Sweden. 



Trade and Shipping. 



But if not superior as a raanufticturing country, Norway surpasses its neigh- 

 bour at least in its trade. In this respect it has turned to marvellous account 



Fig. 76.— Stavanger-fioru. 

 Scale 1 : 140,000. 



2 Miles. 



the advantages derived from the numerous ports of the seaboard, and its geogra- 

 phical position relatively to Great Britain. Its exchanges, scarcely more than 

 £320,000 in the middle of last century, now amount to £20,000,000 j^early, 

 while those of Sweden, with double the population, fall short of £40,000,000. 

 The chief commercial relations of both countries are with England, after which 

 Germany, Denmark, and France follow successively. Of both also the staple 

 export is timber, next to which rank metals and cereals in Sweden, fish in Norway. 

 The most important imports are naturally manufactured goods, exchanged for 

 raw materials. Since 1873 the customs dues have been abolished between the 

 two states, but with a few reservations, which still subject travellers to the 

 inconvenience of having their luggage inspected on the frontiers. 



Shipping has acquired a marvellous development in Norway, which relatively 

 now owns the largest commercial navy in the world. Two-thirds of all the 

 shipping, including thousands of fishing- smacks, belong to the south coast 

 155 



