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ECONOMIC INQUIRIE~ • \Juras
has been earned by our shipping and agency business,
which forms a charge against the foreigner. (.
The amount coming to our credit annually in these
ways cannot but be enormous. As far as shipping is
concerned, we are the owners~f no less than 10,000,000
net registered tons of shippin ,including over 8,000,000
tons of steam shipping. Ou ~ annual earnings, there-
fore, cannot be less than £8 ,000,000, which is little
more than £8 per ton on the average. I need not go
into detail, as the matter has been so much discussed,
but may refer to my former essays.l The main point
to insist upon is that the data are mostly on the surface
and can be easily checked. Freights in different trades
and the amount of shipping employed are well known
to many. So are the chief items of expense-the wages
and provisioning of crews, the coal used, the dock and
harbour dues, the repairs and renewals, the insurance,
and so on. Wrong estimates are possible, but those
who consider the subject are bound to investigate, and
cannot ignore the item when there is so much to put
them on inquiry.
The commissions and brokerages of our merchant
and banking business for foreign customers appear
likewise to be moderately estimated at £ 20,000,000. A
usual charge by a merchant banker for .. accepting" is
I per cent., which would come to about £5,000,000 on
the amount of our imports alone, while there are other
charges for discount, brokerages on sales of goods con-
signed, and commissions on goods in transit, which
have all to be paid by the foreigner who sends the
goods to our markets. The matter is one for estimate,
mainly by City men, but the estimate of £20,000,000
has not, I believe, been thought excessive.
U ndet these two sub-heads, then, the earnings of our
ships, and the earnings of our commission and foreign
banking business, there is an invisible export of aboUt
1 See supra, " The Use of Import and Export Statistics," vol. i. t
p. 283; also "The Excess of Imports," Statistical Society's Journal,
March, 1898.
