Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/74

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BELGIUM.

The commercial intercourse of Belgium with Great Britain is shown in the subjoined tabular statement, giving the total exports from Belgium to the United Kingdom, and the total imports into Belgium of the produce and manufactures of Great Britain and Ireland, in the ten years 1860-69 : —

Exports from Belgium

Imports of British Home

to Great Britain

Produce into Belgium

£

&

1860

4,079,245

1,610,144

1861

3,817,800

1,925,852

1863

4,876,212

1,828,622

1864

5,174,221

2,107,332

1865

7,379,893

2,921,300

1866

7,906,849

2,861,386

1867

7,555,202

2,816,481

1868

8,255,043

3,150,105

1869

9,391,403

4,003,535

The staple article of exports from Belgium to the United King- dom consists in silk manufactures, to the value of 2,431,588/. w Next in importance stands woollen and worsted yarn for weaving, ex- ported to the value of 1,138,865/. in 1869. The minor articles of export to Great Britain comprise chiefly agriculture produce. The imports of British home produce into Belgium consist in the main of woollen and cotton manufactures, the former of the value of 771,661/., and the latter of 500,798/. in the year 1869. It will be noticed that while the imports of British produce increased considerably in the ten years 1860 to 1869, they are still less than one-half of the value of the exports to the United Kingdom.

The international commerce of the kingdom is almost entirely carried on by foreigners, chiefly under the Dutch and British flags.

One of the most important natural productions of Belgium, and chief basis of its industry, is coal, which is raised in ever increasing quantities. It is found in three out of the nine provinces of the kingdom, Hainault, Liege, and Namur. The distribution of the mines, and amount of production, in the year 1866, was as follows : —

Province

Number of coal mines

Number of shafts in work

Amount of coal obtained in 1866

Value

Hainault Liege. Namur.

Total of Kingdom.

130

116

40

24 96 35

Tons 9,851,424 2,564,551 358,687

Francs 120,507,630 27,682,765 2,841,179

286

335

12.774,662

151,031,574 £6,041,263