56 
Hie Indian IVJieat Trade. 
exports for the calendar years. The figures prove beyond all ; 
question that the fall in the price of wheat which has taken 
place since 1883 is not due to increased production in, or exports | 
from, the United States. Similarly it might be shown that the j 
European supplies have not been materially increased during the i 
last four yeai's, as compared with the previous four, from any 
other extra-European country besides India. More than this, I 
it might be shown that the total European supplies from extra- 
European countries besides India during the last four years 
have been smaller than they were for the preceding four years. 
A glance at the figures relating to the principal exporting | 
countries suffices to prove this statement ; but it would be ' 
tedioiis to go into all the details. It is well known, however, | 
that all but a small proportion of the exports referred to come j 
to the United Kingdom, and it may in a small space be shown j 
that our supplies, without those from India, have been smaller ! 
during the past four years than during the previous four. j 
According to the Statistical Abstract we received wheat and 
flour, all reckoned as wheat in hundredweights, in the following i 
quantities from extra-European countries besides India : — In j 
the first four years the United States sent 175,588,072 cwts., ! 
and in the second four, 162,525,858 ; Canada sent 13,288,027 
cwts. in the first, and 13,921,025 in the second period ; Austra- 
lasia, 13,804,333 and 12,989,661; Egypt, 4,028,887 and 
1,349,916; and Chili, 6,639,276 and 6',591,595. The totals | 
are 213,348,595 cwts. for the first four years, and 197,378,055 
for the second. From " other countries," not specified, the ' 
totals were only 725,164 cwts. in the first four years, and about 
2,031,796 in the second — the latter quantity not being quite 
certain, as it is necessary to refer to the Board of Trade Returns i 
for the figures relating to 1887, and the " other countries" in ; 
that publication do not correspond with those in the Statistical I 
Abstract, which enumerates more countries. If we add these 
amounts to avoid all question, although they include small 
quantities from Europe, the totals stand at 214,073,759 and 
199,409,851, showing a reduction of 14,663,908 cwts. foj" the j 
four j-ears ending with 1887, as compared with the total for the i 
four years ending with 1883. If we include imports from the j 
Continent of Europe the drop is greater still. Our receipts 
from all sources except India during the last four yeai's have 
been 22,709,805 cwts. (or 5,240,724 qrs.) less than they were i 
during the previous four years. Including India, our imports j 
have been a little over three million quarters less, as we required 
less foreign wheat, our last four harvests having been greatly 
superior to the four ending with 1883, every one of which was 
under average as far as the wheat crop was concerned. Indeed, 
i 
