PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
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"orders") and has since followed it. The statistics are to be found year by year in the Canadian Statistical Abstract.
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Having described the methods by which Trade Statistics are at present compiled in the Colonies, we propose, before submitting our recommendations for the establishment of a uniform system, to set out as briefly as possible,--for purposes of comparison, the procedure followed in the United Kingdom, in India, and in the principal Foreign Countries.
TRADE STATISTICS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.
The statistics of the import and export trade of the United Kingdom are derived from the informa- tion contained in the Customs "entries." As the entry is thus constituted the foundation of the trade statistics, it will be as well to define here the functions which it fulfill..
As regards imports, the entry is a document which Imports. contains the following particulars relating to the goods which it represents :-
1. Name of the importing ship.,
2. Port of shipment.
3. Number of packages and quantity and descrip-
tion of the goods.
4 Value of the goods.
The entry must be lodged in the hands of the proper Customs officer before the importer is allowed to obtain possession of his goods, and the order that the goods may be landed and dealt with by the merchant follows upon, and is a direct consequence of, this statement. Upon the particulars set forth in the entry the correctness of the statistics will depend, and in order to secure the greatest measure of accuracy compatible with the conditions under which modern trade is carried on, and the rapid transit of goods, facilities are allowed to importers who may not be in possession of information sufficient to make correct entry iminediately upon the importation of their merchandise. Thus the sight entry, enables dutiable goods to be landed and examined, and sub- sequently to be "perfected" upon the information so obtained, and the captain's imperfect entry is used as a means of landing goods for which no entries whatever may have been passed. This is necessary in order to clear the hold of the ship, and, for the goods so landed, perfect and correct entries *must afterwards be passed. Thus in both these classes of cases, covering together a considerable proportion of imported goods, provision is made expressly to allow the merchant the reasonable delay which may be necessary in order to enable him to give accurate information. The commonest form of entry is the free entry which is the form used when the merchant who is importing duty-free goods (in the British tariff far the greatest proportion of the whole) is able at once from 'his advices to afford the particulars required in the entry.
Other entries, relating to the disposal of dutiable goods, are the following:-
For goods about to be placed in the bonded ware- house there is the warehousing entry, any inaccuracies
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be based. The value at the port of shipment is taken in every instance, except in four of the smaller West Indian Colonies where the value at the European port of arrival is taken, either for all goods shipped or for staple products only, minor products in the latter case being reckoned at their cost at the port of shipment. In one instance an export duty is included in the value.
In the methods of making the calculations there is more variety. In the greater number of Colonies this is done by the Customs officials either front local current price lists or, from average values obtained from Chambers of Commerce. In several instances a declaration of the exporter, supported in a few cases by the production of invoices or bills of entry, is required by law, and occasionally this is subject to revision by the Customs. But we gather from the correspondence that, in practice, values are given for the most part in a very loose manner; that the Customs supervision is exceedingly small, inasmuch as no question of revenue is concerned; and that the returns as now obtained are very far from being trustworthy.
'In Malta, Hong Kong, and Gibraltar no valuations are made.
Two other sources of error which have been pointed out to us by an ex-Customs official are worthy of notice. As regards imports, it appears that in his experience it was no uncommon occurrence to find a consignee furnished by his correspondent with three sets of invoices,—a correct one for his own information; a bogus one for use in the Customs House, and an equally fictitious one for exhibition to his local customers. Again, there was a theory that a Colony to be flourishing must have a preponderance of exports over imports, and if the unassisted figures did not show this they were duly "rectified"
by the Customs.
We have no information to show whether either of these disturbing factors is operative at the present time.
Some attempt has already been made in the Colonies to devise à system for the classification of goods. A conference of Government statists of Australia was held in Tasmania in 1875, at which this question was considered, and we annex an ex- B. tract from a letter in which the Government statist of Victoria, Mr. Heylyn Hayter, submitted the con- clusions of the conference to his Government.
The system of classes and orders then recom- mended has since been followed by Victoria and Tasmania alone, the other Colonies not, having adopted it. Victoria' publishes her statistics in this form-the imports and exports under the same headings, facing each other on opposite pages,-in the "Victorian Year Book," while in the Statistical Register (one of the Sessional Papers annually pre- sented to the Colonial Legislature) they are given under the ordinary alphabetical headings. Tasmania publishes no alphabetical statement, the statistics being presented to Parliament in the form recom- mended by the conference.
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In 1885 Canada adopted this method (with a slight variation in the number and arrangement of the
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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