390 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
It will be seen by these figures that our import trade has 
increased in value from £1,335,794 in 1872, to £1,725,974 in 
1877. When we have good harvests there is a falling off in the 
value of our imports; but I shall show that the real increase 
in our trade corresponds with these figures, irrespective of the 
harvests. 
There are 19 ports in England and Wales the imports of which 
in 1876 (the last return) reach £1,000,000 in value. They are, 
in the order of their importance— 
1 London 11 Grimsby 
2 Liverpool 12 Goole 
3 Hull 13 Hartlepool 
4 Folkestone (London) 14 Gloucester 
5 Southampton (London) 15 Swansea 
6 Newhaven (London) 16 Rochester (London) 
7 Bristol 17 Plymouth 
8 Dover (London) 18 Littlehampton 
9 Newcastle 19 Cardiff 
10 Harwich (London) 
Of these ports six are merely out-ports of London, being packet 
stations in constant communication with France and the Continent, 
the principal goods imported being in fact consigned to London, 
and of great value, but forming no part of their trade. This can 
be proved by the amount of Customs duties paid at those ports 
compared with the duties paid at Plymouth, which amounted in 
1876, 
At Folkestone : Z to £24,052 
Southampton . : >) £99,528 
Newhaven { » £10,596| Out-ports of 
Dover é ‘ », £32,012 Dotto. 
Harwich : : » £21,023 
Rochester ; : » £6,583 
All below Plymouth, 1876 », £63,260 
Ditto 1877 », £638,926 
With respect to Customs duties Plymouth stands twelfth in im- 
portance in England and Wales; and deducting the steam-packet 
stations which are out-ports of London, she stands eleventh in 
importance with respect to the value of the imports. 
Although the Customs duties may be a good test to apply to 
the real significance of the enormous value of the imports at 
the steam-packet stations, they are not a good general test of. 
