338 i:XTEACTS FBOM diplomatic and consular . [March 1895. 



REPORTS. 



exports of butter, though inferior to those of 1892, were con- 

 siderably higher than those of 1890 and 1891 ; the prices also 

 were better in consequence of the dearth of fodder. There was 

 an increased export of condensed milk as well as of milk and 

 farinaceous foods. The import of butter and margarine rose 

 considerably; that of cheese, especially of French sorts, fell 

 off about 75 per cent. The total value of Swiss dairy produce 

 xported in 1893, which appears to have been a fair average 

 year, amounted to 2,396,000l 



All grains, most fruits, and especially vines, gave an abundant 

 harvest; nevertheless the importation of all these products 

 except wine increased. The quantity of wheat imported in 1893 

 exceeded that imported in 1892, and was about equal to the 

 ■figures of 1890 and 1891, but the price was much lower. Kice 

 remained about stationary in quantity, but grain prices fell all 

 round except for oats. Potatoes were good and dearer ; the 

 import of barley increased 20 per cent., and that of malt 11 per 

 cent., the great heat having been responsible for a considerable 

 increase in the consumption of beer, but this increase benefited 

 the native industry almost exclusively. 



[Foreign Office Report, Annual Series, I^o. 1490. Price l^d.] 



Agricultural Depression in Poland. 



The Foreign Office has recently issued a Keport from Mr. 

 Henry Grant, Her Majesty's Consul-General at Warsaw, con- 

 taining the translation of an authoritative Memorial on the 

 position of landed proprietors in Poland. This Memorial has 

 been presented to the Commission for the Revision of Russian 

 Railway Tariffs in the hope that some changes may be made 

 in favour of Polish growers of cereals, as it is held that the 

 differential rates which have obtained since 1889 amount to a 

 premium to the growers of corn in distant parts of Russia against 

 the Poles. 



Reference is made in the Memorial to recent publications of 

 the Russian Agricultural Department, in which are given minute 

 details of the rise and fall in the average price of land in the 

 whole of Russia, except the Kingdom of Poland, during the 

 thirty years from 1860 to 1889. These thirty years are divided 

 into two periods : the first from 1860 to 1883, during which 

 the price of land in Russia rose everywhere and continually ; the 

 second from 1883 to 1889, during which this upward movement 

 not only ceased, but, in most Governments, turned in the opposite 

 direction. 



The Kingdom of Poland, it is stated, belongs to those districts 

 where the price of land has diminished by 28 per cent., which 

 is the maximum depreciation recorded in the whole Empire. 

 Although there appears to be no doubt that the fall in the price of 



