March 1895.] EXPORTS OF BRITISH CATTLE IN 1894. 



293 



The following table, compiled from records supplied by the 

 Commissioners of Customs, shows the numbers of cattle exported 

 in each month of the past three years, and brings into special 

 prominence tlie peculiarly active trade which distinguished the 

 closing months of 1894 : — 



Months. 



1892. 



1893. 



1894. 





iM O. 



IN O. 





January » _ - _ 



39 



98 



109 



February 



18 



193 



85 



March - - - - 



40 



84 



155 



April . _ - - 



35 



311 



298 



May _ = - _ 



65 



182 



275 



June _ - - - 



94 



335 



359 



July . . - - 



223 



188 



295 



August - = . _ 



403 



370 



876 



September - - - - 



418 



427 



976 



October - _ . . 



239 



234 



1,410 



November - - - - 



583 



351 



1,8S0 



December _ - - - 



246 



336 



1,563 



The Year - 



2,403 



3,109 



8,281 



Details supplied as to the countries to which these increasing 

 exports were sent, show that Belgium has been the largest 

 purchaser. Her purchases were recorded in every month of the 

 year, but only to a significant extent in the last four months, 

 and chiefly in the last three, when 919, 1,423, and 1,181 head 

 of cattle were respectively sent to Belgian ports. Altogether, the 

 Belgian purchases accounted for more than half of the exports 

 of the year, or 4,585 head, against 933 sent to Belgium in 

 1893, and 562 in 1892 ; while the class of stock taken is indicated 

 hy the average values 13^. 4s. per head in 1894, 12^. 4s. in 1893, 

 and 18/. 5s. in 1892. 



France came next after Belgium, taking 601 head of cattle 

 from England, according to these figures, in 1894, whereas the 

 number crossing the Channel to that country in previous years 

 does not appear to have been sufficiently important to find a 

 place in the annual returns. Germany, also, though on a 

 smaller scale than France, has been a purchaser in our markets 

 in the last four months of 1894, 330 of the exported cattle 

 being credited to that country The value of the cattle taken by 

 France in 1894 from this country was 7,273?., giving a mean of 

 121. per head. Those going to Germany were valued at 211. I7s. 

 per head. These figures point to a wholly different class of 

 business than the older form of export to new countries, such 

 as Argentine, where we sent 285 cattle in 1893 valued at 6U. 

 each on the average, and 167 in 1894 at 521. 12s. each. 



In view of the changed state of the course of trade, these 

 statistics are possessed of considerable interest. It is not much 

 more than ten years since France was an exporter to this 

 country. As is well known, however, the Continent has 

 lately suffered seriously from cattle diseases, and the drought 



