Exports of Agricultural Produce. 



303 



butter, the annual shipments being under half the value of 

 those of the last-named article. India is the principal con- 

 signee. British margarine has been sold abroad in increas- 

 ing quantities in recent years, the value of the consign- 

 ments having risen from ^23,000 to ^^34,000 between 1894 

 and 1896. South Africa took over two-thirds of the total 

 exports of this product, and there was a small sale to 

 Denmark. On the other hand, the shipments of oleo-mar- 

 garine from this country are on a smaller scale than formerly, 

 possibly owing to the extended home-manufacture of 

 margarine. The quantity sent abroad in 1896 was 23,000 cwts. 

 of the value of 29,000, as compared with 38,000 cwts. of the 

 value of ^76,000 in 1894 ; the Netherlands is the chief outlet 

 for this trade. Condensed milk of British make is growing 

 in importance as an article of export, the demand coming 

 principally from South Africa ; in the three years 1 894- 

 1896 the quantities shipped rose from 71,000 cwts., valued 

 at £ 148,000, to 1 12,000 cwls. of the value of ;^"225,ooo. 



Among the remaining animal products, raw sheep and 

 lambs' wool next calls for consideration. The cargoes of this 

 staple shipped from the ports of the United Kingdom have 

 ranged from 13,000,000 lbs. to over 21,500,000 lbs. annually 

 during the past few years. For the triennial period 1894-96 

 the average yearly export ation amounted to 17,000,000 lbs., of 

 the value of ;^7oo,ooo, half of which was debited to the United 

 States, while Germany, Russia, France, and the Netherlands 

 accounted for most of the remainder. The United States is 

 also our chief customer for sheep's skins, taking all but a few 

 hundred thousand of our annual exports, which amounted 

 in the past three years to an average of nearly 4,000,000 

 skins, of the value of 228,000. In the same period the 

 average exports of grease, tallow and animal fat exceeded 

 half-a-million hundredweights, of the value of ^570,000 ; the 

 bulk of these bye-products is shipped to the Continent, the 

 Netherlands being the largest single purchaser. Of raw 

 hides the shipments have annually run to between 120,000 

 and 130,000 cwts., but in 1895, 217,000 cwts. were sent abroad 

 owing to an exceptional demand from the United States, 

 which took over 101,000 cwts. in that year. Ordinarily this 



