Comparative British Prices in 1892-1901 and 1902.-United States Consul Marshal Halstead, of Birmingham, England, transmits the following newspaper clipping:

The following summary table shows the average percentage of the main groups of articles in 1902, compared with the average of the preceding ten years, the percentages being based on a standard of 100 in 1871:

It will be seen from the above table that in each of the main groups the prices of 1902 were higher than the average of the preceding ten years, the greatest rise being in the coal and metals group, viz, from 101 to 114.9, or more than 13 per cent. In the food and drink group there was a considerable rise in the prices of meat, fish, and dairy produce, which, however, was more than counterbalanced by the fall in the prices of cereals, tea, sugar, etc. The rise in the total index number for 1902, as compared with the average for 1892-1901, was 3 per cent on the "standard."

If we turn to the tables of retail prices, which are hardly sufficiently complete to warrant treatment by the method of index numbers in an official publication like the present, the most important changes in 1902 to be noted are the decreases in the prices of coal, sugar, and butter, and the considerable rise in the price of beef. The average reduction in the price of coal, as compared with 1901, was Is. (24 cents) per ton. As compared with the price in 1900, the reduction was much more considerable, amounting to about 4s. 3d. ($1.03) per ton, on the average. In 1900, however, the retail price of coal was higher than in any year since 1873. The retail price of sugar showed a tendency to fall in price during 1902, but it was still appreciably higher than in 1900. Sugar, however, is still less than half its price thirty years ago. During the year the price of butter was, on the whole, less than in 1901 by about 1d. (2 cents) per pound. The most considerable rise in retail prices in 1902 was undoubtedly that of beef, both British and foreign, which commenced in the month of May and continued gradually until in October the prices for all the best portions were 11⁄2d. and 2d. (3 and 4 cents) per pound in excess of the prices at the same date in 1901. The prices of British and colonial mutton and of pork were also advanced, but the rise in these cases was not nearly so great, that of mutton being about 1⁄2d. (1 cent) per pound and that of pork Id. (2 cents) per pound. There was a slight fall in the price of most kinds of farinaceous foods during 1902.

FOREIGN REPORTS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Gold Production in South Africa.-According to the South African Gazette, the output of gold in the Rand, South Africa, was 1,704,410 ounces in 1902; 1,837, 134 ounces for the first eight months of 1903; 4,069,166 ounces in 1899; and 4,295,602 ounces in 1898. In 1900, during the war, it was, for January, February, and March, 251,891 ounces; for the last eight months of 1901 the production was 238,991 ounces.

Migratory Movement of Industries.—In its issue of September 17, 1903, Commercial Intelligence, a leading trade journal of London, England, calls attention to the migratory movements of industries.

It says:

A notable feature of the present economical situation in the industrial world is the migration of industries from one country to others, in order to neutralize protective tariffs or antagonistic labor movements, and the starting of factories outside of the zone covered by the hostile tariff. Thus many English firms have recently opened branch factories in the United States, and from Germany comes the news that representatives of several great German chemical industries are negotiating with the Russian authorities to obtain permission to establish works in Russia. Of course this movement on the part of the German manufacturers is the direct outcome of the new Russian tariff.

An English Floating Exhibition.-The Colonizer (an English publication) of September, 1903, states that a scheme is on foot for the organization of a floating industrial exhibition of British manufactures which is to make a tour of the Empire. The plan is to fit out a large ship with samples of all classes of manufactured articles which Great Britain supplies or can supply to her colonies. From fifty to one hundred firms are expected to furnish exhibits, and a representative of each firm will accompany the ship, which, in the course of a six months' voyage, will stop at every important port in the British colonies and dependencies, as well as at ports in Japan, China, and other countries to be selected. It is expected that the tour will begin in the early part of next year.

Campaign Literature in Great Britain.-The London Daily Mail, discussing the distribution of literature by the opposing parties in the pending campaign in Great Britain, states that Mr. Chamberlain's organization is distributing pamphlets at the rate of

400,000 per day, sending them mostly in small packages all over the country. About 16,000,000 pamphlets had at that date-September 21-been already issued, and the secretary of the Midland Liberal Union is quoted as saying that probably 50,000,000 leaflets will be distributed before the close of the campaign. The Free Trade Union had distributed at that date 14,000,000 pamphlets and was still issuing them at the rate of from 500,000 to 750,000 weekly, and the Unionist Free Food League was distributing them at the rate of 50,000 weekly. Large numbers of applications, it is added, are being received for these documents from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, as well as from all parts of the United Kingdom and its colonies.

Leather School in London.-The Shoe and Leather Record, of London, says, in a recent issue, that a technical school for leather workers has been opened in London under the direction of an efficient corps of instructors. It is to give practical technical training in tanning, currying, leather dressing, dyeing, staining, and finishing. The London city leather workers' guilds have also instituted an examination in leather dyeing, staining, and finishing, divided into an elementary and an honor course, as is at present done in the dressing of skins and leather manufacture. The certificates issued in both cases are similar.

World's Production of Rubber.-The figures of the following table were published in Industrie et Commerce de Caoutchouc of November 6, 1903, and were compiled from that publication in the Bureau of Statistics, Department of Commerce and Labor:

Automobile Trade of France. The automobile industry of France has had a very rapid development, and the foreign trade in the different varieties manufactured in France has been very favorable up to the present time. The amount of the export and import trade in automobiles and parts of automobiles in 1902 may be seen from the following table, which has been compiled in the Bureau of Statistics, Department of Commerce and Labor, from figures. furnished by the trade:

Russian Commercial Museums in Persia.-The following is a translation made in the Bureau of Statistics, Department of Commerce and Labor, from the Revue du Commerce Extérieur, September 19, 1903:

The principal bureau of the Russian Company for Navigation and Commerce has just addressed a special circular to all large firms in the Empire, urging them to aid in the establishment of direct shipping facilities between Odessa and ports on the Oman Sea and Persian Gulf. A service of this kind would result in the planting of the Russian flag in those distant parts, where up to the present hardly any but English ships have visited; in opening new markets for Russian products; and in the bringing together of Russian exporters and Persian consumers, among whom England, in the absence of active competition, has acquired considerable influence. The Russian company has been working along these lines for ten years, and is encouraged to believe that the proper organization of Russian industries will result in Russian goods soon dividing the trade with English goods. In view of these considerations, the Imperial Government, according to the Moniteur Officiel of Odessa, has just arranged with this company to inaugurate this service. The company, thus encouraged, has decided to establish in the more important ports on the Oman Sea and Persian Gulf, particularly at Bassorah, permanent museums of Russian industry, which will be known as "Russian museums," and which will show as far as possible all the products exported from Russia. An agent, specially instructed to impart necessary information, will be stationed at each of the

museums.

Export Tax on Tin Ore in the Malay States.-A correspondent in the Pall Mall Gazette, in discussing the prohibition on the export of tin ore, writes:

This action has been freely criticised in all circles throughout the Straits, but it is generally admitted to be a judicious step. If a protective tariff had not been imposed upon the export of tin ore from the Federated Malay States, America, taking 70 per cent or more of the whole supply of ore and smelting it herself, would in the fullness of time consider the smelting and refining of tin ore a new industry and promptly impose a protective tariff thereon by heavily taxing all slab tin coming into the country from the Straits Settlements and other countries. And what would be the result? The American market for slab tin would be closed to Straits shippers. Not only that, America, in taking such a large percentage of the output of tin ore, would practically be able to monopolize the supply and to fix her own prices for the raw material. The Straits mines and miners would be controlled by American companies engaged in the importation of tin ore, and sooner or later these companies would combine and another gigantic trust would come into being. But the step taken by the government of the Federated Malay States has prevented smelted tin from becoming an American monopoly. The duty of $30 per picul (133.3 pounds) practically means an ad valorem duty of 33 per cent on all tin ore exported from the Straits, and this is sufficient to rout all the ingenious schemes devised by enterprising Americans. That it is protection will not be denied; but it is protection for the purpose of preserving a local industry in the Straits Settlements and of making sure that the Federated Malay States, as producers, get their fair customs export revenue on their export of tin ore, and while hindering no one locally from buying and (or) smelting tin ore it keeps the Straits market in slab tin open to the world.