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| 386° From the rest of the world, £681,- 000,000. Incidentally, it should not be forgot- ten how large a part our exports of coal, amounting to 76,000,000 tons in 1913, play in providing return freight for our enormous preponderance of imports over exports. Turning to the export side, we find that while our exports to Germany and Austria amounted in 1913 to £45,- 000,000, the rest of the world took goods to the value of £480,000,000. While, therefore, we definitely lose markets for goods to the value of £45,000,000, there is a market in the United Kingdom for goods at present supplied from Germany and Austria to the value of £88,000,000. Not all this market can be supplied from do- 'mestic sources; there are, of course, many commodities included for which we must look for sources of supply outside these islands, but there re- mains a considerable trade that is now awaiting the enterprise of the British mdnufacturer if he will seize it before _ other foreign competitors endeavor to take Germany's place, as will appear from the following table:-- Some British Imports of German Manufactures in 1913 Appel ee a. £ 1,200,000 Neotor cars. and parts. =) .: + 1,100,000 China and earthenware..... 750,000 Cotton manufactures: 3.2... 7,000,000 eye Stuer ee Oe 1,700,000 Fancy goods and embroid- Cry eee 1,200,000 (AR OS ar Sh 1,200,000 Woolen and worsted manu- factires: 9... ee eae ae 2,000,000 Hardware and. hollowware.. 1,000,000 Leather manufactures, in- cluding gloves, but not Hoots ani shoes... 1,200,000 Wave ane odines.. oc... 1,200,000 Electrical "machinery: ..:.... 700,000 Machinery other than elec- RPGR P a oid. oo Pe, 1,600,000 So much for. these islands. There remains the vast world commerce which Germany, and, to some extent, Austria have painfully and laboriously built wp in recent years. With their industries stopped, their shipping held up, and their credit impaired, the enemy cant by no conceivable means continue to hold any but an infinitesi- mal share of the export trade to for- eign and colonial markets during the continuation of the war. How much they will be able to regain after the war is over no one can predict. To capture as large a portion as possible of this world trade is the work of the immediate present. Other alert rivals are in the field, and in commerce, as in war, it is in the highest degree THE MARINE REVIEW dangerous to adopt dilatory tactics. lf British trade takes no prompt ac- tion it is certain that other countries will. The prize is too rich to be long left unappropriated. A New Situation Not many years ago at such a crisis_ British manufacturers would have found themselves without any guid- ance whatever. Just as the Boer war found us unprepared in the military sense, so, had the present trouble arisen then, we should have found ourselves unprepared with any definite plans or organization in the commer- cial world. Today we are infinitely better equipped. Although still in many ways less efficient than could be wished, the Intelligence Department of the Board of Trade is, to a much greater extent than the general public imagine, ready for the present crisis, and it has with commendable prompti- tude taken steps for placing British manufacturers and merchants in pos- session of the information that they urgently need if the present oppor- tunity is to be seized. For some years the Board of Trade's commercial intelligence department in Basinghall street has made a practice not only of publishing official commer- cial information in the Board of Trade Journal and. elsewhere, but also of sending direct to interested British firms whose names were: filed other information, the publication of which in papers where it was available to our foreign competitors was not de- sirable. Much useful work has also been done auietly through the post in answering bona fide inquiries of a commercial nature, the services of the consular officers and trade commis- sioners being made of direct value to British trade, and the practice of indiscriminate correspondence between the consular officers and private trad- ers, who might or might not be bona fide British firms, discouraged. An immense amount of information of a practical nature has in this way been acquired and arranged by the depart- ment, and it is now to be placed at the disposal of British trade in a most useful form. Taking the principal articles of com- merce in turn, the department is issu- ing to manufacturers and merchants whose names are on their list particu- lars of conditions concerning them in markets now held by German and Austrian trade. The first of these doc- uments, dealing with enameled hollow- ware, etc., was issued on Monday of this week, and it is intended to issue, if possible, three similar pamphlets every day. Opening with the statement that October, 1914 exports from Germany of domestic and kitchen utensiles and kitchen im- plements of sheet iron, etc., enameled, were valued at £1,776,000, while ex- ports of sheet iron wares from Aus- tria were value at £124,600, it is pointed out that the United Kingdom in 1913 only exported similar goods to the value of £531,000, tin plate hollow ware accounting for £335,000. Clearly, then, there are distinct possi- bilities for the extension of British exports, and a table is given setting out the value of present exports of such British goods to each of the principal markets now held by Ger- many and Austria. Openings for Enterprise In South Africa imports of enam- eled ware from Germany were valued at £43,972, compared with only £19,- 555 trom the United Kingdom. It is pointed out that two years ago a British firm entered the market offer- ing British-made enamel ware at the same price as German with consider- able success, but slow delivery of or- ders resulted in the firm losing its hold. In enameled buckets the simple fact that the absence of a foot to the bucket allows much closer nesting than in the case of the German line is held to be the reason for Britain's success. From Australia the Board of Trade has recently received a collection of samples made by his Majesty's Trade Commissioner, and these are being classified, and full information will shortly be circulated to manufacturers. The same method has been followed in New Zealand. In British India the opportunity to secure the trade of Au&tria and Ger- many in enameled iron ware seems particularly favorable. Use by the na- tives has recently shown a tendency to increase considerably. In Egypt, enamel ware is pressing out trade in earthenware owing to cost of transport and the liability of breakage. The rapidly-growing trade is largely German and Austrian. Even in Syria the trade is reported as rapidly growing. French and Bel- gian makers here share with Germans and Austrians in supplying the mar- ket, the objection to the British goods being their heaviness and _ costliness. In China the trade is almost ex- clusively in German and _ Austrian hands. Colombia gets her supplies largely from Germany. China again is a fruitful field--for Germany; and the German makers hold the cheaper lines in plates and bowls in Belgian Congo. It has been impossible in the space at disposal to do more than glance at