m 



Australian Exports, 



[November, 1908, 



Year 



i> e W OULl Lll 



Wnlps 



VV tl icSi 



Victoria. 

 



v^UG811S" 



land. 







OOUtU 



Australia. 



Western 

 Australia. 



1898 tons 



835 



2,620 



12 







8,206 







£ 



3,305 



17,478 



59 



62,132 







1899 tons 



372 



3,097 



1 



8,953 







£ 



2,040 



22,772 



5 



69,985 







1900 tons 



463 



1,560 



— 



8,386 







£ 



2,983 



11,688 



— 



63,732 







1901 tons 



29 



2,581 



15 



7,974 



— 



£ 



211 



20,966 



300 



67,601 





1902 tons 



184 



3,896 



15 



7,702 







1,111 



32,907 



98 



68.S56 





1903 tons 



382 



3,477 



177 



6,669 



138 



£ 



2,812 



28,576 



661 



65,0(52 



859 



1101 tons 



378 



5,122 



715 



7,205 



5,059 



£ 



3.194 



41,316 



2,685 



59,902 



32,876 



Tasmania. 



5,892 

 31,017 



5,187 

 13,042 



4,742 

 29,405 



4,983 

 ?2,Y73 



5,765 

 40,190 



4,618 

 32,843 



4,301 

 30,506 



Owing to the custom of classing all 

 tanning barks together, it is impossible 

 to provide figures for the last two 

 years from the official Commonwealth 

 trade returns, and it should be pointed 

 out that the figures in the foregoing 

 table probably include interstate trade, 

 as total Australian exports of "Tanning 

 Bark" in 1904 were only 12,599 tons, 

 valued at £93,927. This rose in 1905 to 

 25,514 tons, valued at £189,699, but the 

 increase was no doubt due to "mallet 

 bark, *' which has been exported in 

 large quantities in recent years. 



South Australia's exports in 1890 were 

 4,444 tons, valued at £56,006, but in 

 1904, although rising to 7,205 tons, the 

 total value was only £59,902. This 

 decrease in value is due mainly to a 

 general fall in prices, and not to a 

 decrease in quality, 



Tasmanian exports dropped during 

 the same period from 11,008 tons to 

 4,301 tons. The Victorian exports fell 

 in the same period from 5,659 tons to 

 5,122 tons. The corresponding figures 

 for Natal, given in the following table, 

 are also taken chiefly from Maiden's 

 pamphlet (loc tit,). 



Natal Exports. 



Year. 



Tons, 



Value. 



Teat". 



Tons, 



Valu 







f, 







£, 



1898 



9,427 



30,929 



1903 



12,135 



70,581 



1899 



11,070 



57,885 



1904 



15,819 



92,911 



1900 



8,900 



46,479 



1905 



17,513 



102,666 



1901 



13,771 



09,850 



1900 



15,000 



69,413 



1902 



15,537 



74,554 









This shows on the whole a consider- 

 able expansion. Recently there has been 

 a decline, for instance, in the price of 

 bark, and though this may be due in 

 part to the competition of other tanning 

 materials, it has been suggested in Natal 

 that the confidence of consumers of 

 Natal bark may have been shaken by 

 the export of ''weathered" bark, and 

 also of blue wattle bark, which is poorer 

 in tannin, and to combat this and other 

 difficulties a Union has been formed to 

 provide for a " mark " for standard bark, 

 which will be a guide to buyers. 



During the last few years the imports 

 of Avattle bark into the two chief Euro- 

 pean ports of discharge (London and 

 Hamburg) have been as follows (Natal 

 Agric. Journ. 1907, 10, 1138; and Fear 

 Book of the Manchester, Liverpool, and 

 District Tanners' Federation, 1906:— 



Year, 



London (including bark in tran 

 sit.) 



From Natal 



Hamburg.) 

 (all sources 

 j from 

 Prom Australia, | Natal, 



1900 

 1901 

 1902 

 1903 

 1904 

 1905 

 1900 



Tons. 



7,827 

 11,034 

 11.232 

 10.049 

 13,671 

 11,914 



8,461 



Tons. 



6,000 

 5,250 

 7,950 

 8,100 

 8,300 



In 1S06 the United Kingdom's consump- 

 tion was estimated at 2,500 tons (loc. cit.), 

 so that Hamburg probably received 

 about 6,000 tons by transhipment from 

 London. In 1906 the United Kingdom 

 imported roughly about one-third of the 

 world's production of wattle bark. 



