38o 



Imports of Onions. 



cate the rateable value of the unions and parishes on 

 July 20th, 1896. Statements were not received under the 

 Act from the unions and parishes under separate boards of 

 guardians which contained no agricultural land as defined by 

 the Act, and the rateable values of those unions and parishes 

 were taken from statements which show their rateable values 

 at the beginning of the financial year 1896-7. 



A fourth return (No. 379 of 1897) showed the gross esti- 

 mated rentals of the above-mentioned classes of property to 

 be as follows : — 



Agricultural land as defined by the Agri- 

 cultural Rates Act ;£26,88i,783 



Buildings and other hereditaments not being 



agricultural land 172,347,123 



Total . . . . . . . . ;^i99,228,9o6 



The rateable value of agricultural land was in 1897 rather 

 more than one-seventh of the total rateable value of England 

 and Wales ; the rateable value of agricultural land averaged 

 about 91 J per cent, of its gross estimated rental, and the 

 corresponding percentage in the case of buildings and other 

 hereditaments not being agricultural land was 8 if. 



Imports of Onions into the United Kingdom. 



For many years the imports of onions into the United 

 Kingdom have, with few fluctuations, shown a progressive 

 increase, and during the past decade the quantities entered 

 annually have risen uninterruptedly from 3,485,000 bushels 

 in 1888 to 6,109,000 bushels in 1897. The imported supply 

 is made up of consignments of varying dimensions from a 

 number of countries, but the greater share of the trade is 

 confined to Spain, Holland, and Egypt. In the past year the 

 quantity of Spanish onions received amounted to 1,754,000 

 bushels, of the value of ;£248,ooo, or 2s. lod. per bushel. 

 Holland furnished 1,741,000 bushels, valued at 170,000, 

 or 2S. per bushel ; and to Egypt we were indebted for 

 1,162,000 bushels, declared to be worth ;£i75,ooo, or 3s. per 



