Vol. VIII. No. 89. 
IMPERIAL INSTITUTE JOURNAL. 
[May, 1902.] 
12 1 
FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL 
RETROSPECT. 
United Kingdom.- — In making his Budget statement on the 14th of 
last month, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said that for the year 1901-1902 
the total issues from the Exchequer were £195,522,000 ; the original 
expenditure provided for in the Budget of that year was £184,212,000, but 
that amount had been swollen by supplementary estimates of £12,631,000, 
and an unexpected increase in the Consolidated Fund charges of £73,000, 
though, on the other hand, savings had been effected to the extent of 
£1,394,000. The estimated revenue was £142,455,000, but the actual 
receipts were greater by £543,000. The sugar tax yielded AT 2 90, 000 more 
than was expected, and the coal duty brought in rather more than the 
estimate, and that with scarcely any effect on the exports, which were higher 
than ever they had been except in 1900-1901. The duties on wine, beer and 
spirits produced less than was allowed for, but the receipts from tea and income- 
tax were better than expected. The deficit was £52,524,000. This had 
been met out of the Consols loan, which yielded £56,553,000, leaving a 
balance of over £4,000,000. For the current year the Chancellor put the 
expenditure at £174,609,000, the main items being: — Consolidated Fund 
charges £29,450,000 i Army estimates £69,665,000 ; Navy estimates 
£31,255,000; Civil Service estimates £26,448,000; Customs and Inland 
Revenue ,£3,039,000 ; and Postal service £14,752,000. The receipts, 
estimated on the basis of existing taxation, were £147,785,000, made up of 
Customs, £32,800,000 ; Excise, £32,700,000 : Death duties, £13,200,000 ; 
Stamps, £8,200,000 ; Land-tax and House duty, £2,500,000; Income-tax, 
£36,600,000; Post-office, £14,800,000; Telegraphs, £3,630,000; Crown 
lands, ,£475,000 ; Suez canal, £880, 000 ; and Miscellaneous, £2,000,000. 
The estimated deficit thus amounted to £26,824,000, increased by further 
war expenditure and help to sugar-growing colonies to a total of £45,500,000. 
To meet this, the Chancellor proposed to take £3,500,000 from the existing 
Exchequer balances, to get £4,500,000 by suspending the Sinking Fund, to 
raise £32,000,000 by a new loan, and to create new taxation, estimated to 
produce £5,150,000. The new taxes proposed are a duty of 3d. per cwt. 
on imported corn and sd. per cwt. on imported flour, estimated to yield 
£2,650,000 ; an increase of id. on the income-tax, estimated to yield 
£2,000,000; and an additional penny stamp on cheques and dividend 
warrants, which it is hoped will yield £500,000. The duty on corn has met 
with general approval from almost all, except those whose business it is to 
oppose, as a step in the desirable direction of broadening taxation ; the 
increased income tax has been received with submissiveness as being only 
what was to be expected from the wisdom which at present is at the head of 
the nation’s finance ; and the stamp duty is the only one of the three that 
has aroused much feeling, largely on the ground that it is futile to worry 
people with an impost which will bring in only a paltry amount, even if it 
is successful, as is not regarded as by any means certain in some competent 
quarters. 
At first sight the trade returns for March appear very bad as compared 
with those for the same month of last year, for in both the imports and 
the exports there is a falling off of over 1 1 per cent., the imports at 
£40,897,861 being £5, 528,195 less than in last year, while the exports 
at £22,217,238 are £2,804,055 to the worse. It must be remembered, 
however, that Easter falling in March this year diminished the time available 
for business by at least two days, while on the export side the amount 
received for new ships sold abroad was £2,167,225 less than last year. 
In the imports the decrease was generally distributed over the whole range 
of articles, and only a few of the total number showed an increase either in 
quantity or value. Among raw materials for textile industries there were some 
exceptions. Owing to larger shipments from Brazil and the United States, the 
quantity of raw cotton increased by 17T per cent., though its value was only 
4'8 per cent, better. The value of cotton manufactures increased by 13 'i per 
cent. Wool, on the other hand, was less by 40,997,902 lb. (457 per cent.), 
and in value lost £1,376,388, or 47^8 per cent., owing to smaller receipts 
from Australia and New Zealand. In hemp there was a fall of i3'9 per 
cent, in amount, with a very small rise in value, and in jute there was a 
rise in both respects, 36*4 per cent, in quantity and 17^4 per cent, in 
value. In articles of food there was a fall of 1,306,100 cwt. in wheat, 
together with an almost exactly equivalent diminution of value, owing to a 
great reduction in the supply from the United States and Argentina. 
Wheat flour, owing to smaller shipments from the United States, was less 
by 33*5 per cent, in quantity, its value being 34'4 per cent. less. Oats, 
too, fell off, the reduction in amount being 41 ’4 per cent., and in value 
2 7 'i per cent. The value of Indian corn was 9 per cent, smaller, but the 
reduction in quantity amounted to 223 per cent. ; the United States sent 
only 201,200 cwt., against 3,904,000 cwt. in March last year; but Roumania 
sent 1,364,200 cwt. against 12,500 cwt., and Russia 1,030,300 cwt. against 
63,300 cwt. The only one of the cereals for which higher figures were 
reported was barley, the quantity of which rose 26*2 per cent., owing to 
larger shipments from Roumania and the United States ; its value was 
24*1 per cent, higher. In sugar there was a large falling off. The refined 
article was £481,769 (32-6 per cent.) less in value, the quantity having 
diminished from 2,405,461 cwt. to 1,868,328 cwt., while raw sugar fell 
from 2,744,526 cwt. to 1,345,766 cwt. (637 per cent.) in quantity, and was 
£869,501 (5C9 per cent.) less in value. In the exports coal was shipped 
to a slightly greater extent (2*2 per cent.), but the sum received for it was 
£305,582 smaller (127 per cent.). Iron and steel showed a substantial 
increase, the amount being higher by 34,037 tons, and the value by 
£208,825. Machinery, however, was less in value by 11*3 per cent. 
(£ i 7 i , 47 o), although locomotives slightly increased. Cotton piece-goods 
improved in quantity by 6*9 per cent.., though their value was practically 
stationary; larger shipments to China accounted for 22,000,000 out of 
the total of 29,176,000 yards increase. Cotton yarn and twist increased by 
6 ‘3 per cent, in amount, but in value were 7 ‘8 per cent, less, and other 
cotton manufactures were worth 3^2 per cent. less. Wool rose 60 ‘8 per 
cent, in amount, and 55*4 per cent, in value; woollen and worsted yarn 
increased 27 per cent, in the former respect, but declined 7*9 per cent, 
in the latter, while woollen tissues were almost the same as in last year. 
Chemical manures 'were half as much again in quantity, and their value w'as 
30*3 per cent, higher, while soda compounds, with a rise of io‘9 per cent, 
in amount, were enhanced 27*0 per cent, in value. The exports of foreign 
and colonial merchandise were valued at £4,314,471; last year they were 
worth £5,200,525, the decrease thus being £886,054. 
Colonies. — The gold output from the mines on the Witwatersrand 
which have so far re-started working v r as 104,127 oz. of fine gold in March. 
In the preceding month the total was 81,405 oz. Rhodesia in March yielded 
16,891 oz., as compared with 14,289 oz. in the same month of last year. The 
Queensland output was 60,300 oz., and Victoria produced 66,058 oz. The 
gold exported from Western Australia and received at the Berth mint 
amounted to 177,505 oz., valued at £647,895, or 49,650 oz. more than in the 
same month of last year. 
Lord Cromer’s report on Egypt has recently been published. The main 
heads of the Egyptian financial position for 1901 were given in last number 
of this Journal, but the report also deals, among many other topics, with the 
estimates for 1902. These show a surplus of £E2 10,000, but this, Lord 
Cromer thinks, will be considerable exceeded, even though for the first time 
'the Government has to face the payment of the annuity due for the construction 
of the Nile reservoirs. This actually amounts to £Ei 60,000, but since for 
every £1 added to the administrative expenditure £1 has to be paid over to 
the Caisse de la Dette, the expenditure in which the Government is really 
involved is £320,000. If Egypt were not hampered by the peculiar system 
of accounts and estimates imposed by its international obligations, the figures 
for 1902 would stand : — Revenue, ££10,844,000 ; expenditure, ££9,900,000 ; 
surplus, ££944,000. At the same time it is satisfactory to note that for 
sometime past the most friendly relations have existed between the Govern- 
ment and the Caisse de la Dette, and while the Commissioners of the latter 
are of course bound by the provisions of the laws by which it is regulated, 
they have shown a general disposition to meet proposals of the Government 
in a friendly and conciliatory spirit. As regards the Soudan, the finance is 
in a more satisfactory condition than might have been expected, although it 
is not yet possible to balance the Budget without a relatively heavy deficit, 
amounting for 1902 to £2,268,000. 
The following table shows the variations which have occurred in the 
securities of certain Colonial Governments during the past three months : — 
25th Feb. 
26 th Mar. 
28th April. 
Canada 3 per cent. 
IOI -101J 
IOI -101^ 
102^-103^ 
Cape 3 per cent. 
96 — 96J 
96 A- 97 
97'i" 97i 
Natal 3 per cent. 
93 ~ 94 
932“ 942 
95 - 96 
New S. Wales 3 per cent. . 
9 6 i~ 97 
95 " 9 5i 
95f~ 9<5i 
New Zealand 3 per cent. 
95 “ 95l 
932“ 94 
95i- 96 
Queensland, 3 per cent. 
94|- 9 5l 
95 - 95i 
95f~ 96£ 
South Australia 3 per cent. . 
932- 94 
94 “ 94i 
95 - 95i 
Tasmania 3! per cent. 
103J-104! 
103^-104-^ 
103I-104J- 
Victoria 3 per cent. 
West Australia 3 per cent. 
96^- 97 
96J- 97 
97i~ 97f 
(May-Nov.) 
93i- 93t 
93i- 94 2 
93 h~ 94i 
India. — The fluctuations which have been recorded in the securities of 
certain Indian railway companies during the last three months are shown in 
following table : — 
26th Feb. 
27 th Mar. 
29th April. 
Bengal and North Western 
I3I-I35 
1 3 0_I 34 
i3°-i34 
Bengal-Nagpur Gua. 4 per cent. . 
103-107 
103-107 
104-108 
Bombay, Baroda & Cent. India . 
157-163 
156-161 
158-163 
Indian Midland 4 per cent. 
103-107 
103-107 
104-108 
Madras Grntd. 5 per cent. 
I33-I37 
132-136 
132-136 
South Indian 4^ per cent. Deb. . 
i3 8 “ I 43 
138-143 
I3 8 ~i43 
Southern Mahratta 3^ per cent. . 
106—109 
106-109 
106-109 
Foreign Countries.— A ccording to a provisional report issued by the 
Ministry of Finance, the Russian ordinary revenue for 1901 amounted to 
£197,852,160 — that is, an increase of £7,541,600 as compared with the 
estimates, and an improvement of £10,397,970 over the figures for 1900. 
The ordinary expenditure in 1901, amounting to £171,789,750, exhibited 
an increase of £14,185,820 as compared with that of 1900. The extraordinary 
revenue was £18,004,470, and extraordinary expenditure £18,598,140. 
According to the report of the International Financial Commission for 
the Greek Debt, the total amount received by the Commission in the twelve 
months from January, 1901 to January, 1902, reached the sum of 1,131,705 
gold drachmae and 58,041,476 paper drachmae. In the same period the 
expenditure was 950,004 gold and 48,893,563 paper drachmae, the balance 
thus being 181,700 gold and 9,147,913 paper drachmae. The total paid in 
1901 for the service of the debt was 15,036,669 fcs. The sums paid on the 
coupons reached 12,251,952 fcs., of which 6,087,662 fcs. went to England, 
