Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/574

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THE BRITISH EMPIRE: — CANADA

Commerce.

The following statement gives the total value ^ of exports and of imports, and the total value of imports entered for home consumption in the Dominion, in each of the years named : —

Year ended June 30

Total Exports

Total Imports

Imports for Home Consumption

1879 1889 1894 1895 1896 1897

Dollars 71,491,225 89,189,167 117,524,949 113,638,803 121,013,852 137,950,253

Dollars 81,964,427 115,224,931 123,474,940 110,781,682 118,011,508 119,218,609

I Dollars

80,341,608

109,673,447

113,093,983

105,252,511

110,587,480

111,294,021

The following table shows the share of the leading countries in the com- merce of Canada in the last two years in thousands of dollars : —

Exports to

Great Britain , United States , West Indies Newfoundland , South America Germany

1896

1897

1,000 Dols.

1,000 Dols.

66,690

77,227

36,421

41,934

2,880

2,643

1,782

1,693

1,694

1,536

—

1,045

No other country over a million

Imports entered for Consumption.

1S96

1897

1,000 Dols,

58,574

32,980

5,931

2,811

United States. Great Britain. Germany. France China Japan

West Indies Spain and Boss. (Not in W.I.) Belgium. . | — Other countries each under

2,671 1,896

1,226

1,000 Dol.s.

61,649

29,412

i 6,494

I 2,601

2,397

1,679

1,226 1,164 a million

1 The returns of values of imports and exports are those supplied in entries at the Customs, where imports must be entered for duty at their fair market value as for home consumption in the country of purchase. Quantities are ascertained from invoices and by examination, wines are gauged and spirits tested. The country of origin of imports is the country of purchase or whence shipment was made to Canada ; the country of destination is that to which shipment is made. Thus, Canadian wheat, purchased by New York dealers, shipped to and entered in bond at New York, and thence exported to Great Brilian, would appear only as exported from Canada to the United States. The only Canadian port where transit trade is recorded is Montreal, such trade comprising chiefly goods received from the United States and transhipped to other countries by the St. Lawrence route. Transit trade is not included in the general trade, which comprises all other imports into and exports from Canada. The term "special trade," in Canada, is applied to imports from Newfoundland which are exempt from duties leviable on similar goods from other countries.

The accuracy of the statistical results may at times be affected by fraudulent misdescription or undervaluation by importers, and by the adoption of "sight entries" which, under the Customs Act, may be passed when importers declare on oath that, for want of full information, they cannot make a perfect entry. In such circumstances the goods may be landed, examined, and (a sum being deposited sufficient, in the collector's opinion, to pay the duty) delivered to the importer. A time is fixed within which a perfect entry should be made, but when this time has elapsed the deposit is held as payment of the dnty, and the provisional valuation, which may be only approximate, is not corrected. Statistics of exports may be affected in two ways: large quantities of goods are shipped at remote points where no officer is stationed, and the prescribed entry outwards is not unfrequently neglected, while, on the other hand, it may happen, by the mistake of oflicers or of carriers' agents, that exports already entered outwards at the inland port of shipment are recorded also at the point of exit from Canada.