5oo Imports of Agricultural Produce in 1902. 



counterbalancing the diminished supplies from Australia, which 

 only sent us 279,134 cwt., as compared with 518,639 cwt. in 

 1901. 



The decline in the amount of dead meat imported from 

 abroad was not confined to beef, the quantities of fresh and 

 salted pork, bacon and hams being in each case smaller than in 

 the preceding year, but it may be noticed that here also the 

 decline was mainly attributable to a falling off in the imports 

 from the United States. In the case of bacon, these amounted 

 to only 3,283,855 cwt., or 960,474 cwt. less than in the previous 

 year. In accordance with a tendency which has been a notice- 

 able feature for several years past, bacon showed a substantial 

 rise in the average declared value from the 47s. id. recorded in 

 1901 to 52s. 9d. per cwt., a rate which may be compared with 

 41s. 9d. in 1900 and 35s. iod. in 1899. Imported hams have 

 also been increasing in value, and averaged 52s. id. as against 

 48s. 8d. last year. 



The imports of dairy produce, margarine and eggs are in- 

 cluded in the next table. The aggregate value of these articles in 

 the past year amounted to £37,650,390, an increase of £2,270,374 

 over 1901, and of £3,720,715 over 1900. 



Table II. 



Imports of Dairy Produce, Margarine and Eggs. 





Quantities. 



Value. 



Description. 





















1 901. 



1902. 



1901. 



1902. 





Cwt. 



Cwt. 



£ 



£ 



Butter 



Margarine 



Cheese ... 



Milk, Condensed 



Milk and Cream, Fresh.. 



3,702,890 

 962.127 

 2,586,837 

 919.319 

 24422 

 Gt. Hundreds 



3,974,177 



966,170 

 2,546,384 

 914,087 

 22,030 

 Gt. Hundreds 



19,297,396 

 2,556,679 

 6,227,135 

 1,760,516 



42,523 



20,527,934 



2,569,453 

 6,412,420 

 1,803,036 

 37,613 



Eggs 



17,071,767 



18,930,513 



5.495,767 



6,299,934 



Our imports of butter amounted to 3,974,177 cwt., a figure 

 exceeding that of any previous year. The largest quantity was 

 received from Denmark, which sent 1,703,032 cwt, or 43 per 



