participation in the wood import trade may reasonably be anticipated and various ways are indicated by which exporters can expand their sales in that market. Acknowledgment is made to the many members of the British lumber trade and wood-using industries and officials of the Forest Products Research Laboratory who rendered valuable assistance in the investigation.

The Lumber Division of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, in cooperation with oversea representatives of the Departments of Commerce and State, maintains close touch with markets throughout the world. The division will gladly reply to specific inquiries from United States exporters.

MARCH, 1928.

JULIUS KLEIN, Director, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.

THE BRITISH LUMBER MARKET

INTRODUCTION

The United Kingdom consists of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland. It is separated from the European Continent by the English Channel, the Straits of Dover, and the North Sea. The greatest distance from north to south is about 608 miles and from east to west about 320 miles, while the total area is about 89,041 square miles, or slightly less than the combined area of the States of Louisiana and Tennessee.

TOPOGRAPHY

The eastern coast of Great Britain forms a waving and continuous (though not unbroken) line, while the western coast is extremely irregular and deeply indented by many bays and arms of the sea. The surface of the southeast part is a level alluvial area, the center undulating and hilly, while the west and northwest is mountainous and irregular.

A series of mountain ranges occupies the greater part of the west and north, stretching from Cornwall, covering a large part of Wales, the western counties of England, and most of Scotland, the highest point being Ben Nevis, 4,406 feet, in Scotland.

DRAINAGE AND CLIMATE

There are eight important rivers, the largest being the Severn, Mersey, and Clyde in the west, the Thames, the Trent and the Ouse (with their estuary-the Humber), Tees, and Tyne in the east, and upon their banks are located the shipyards and cities through which the great export and import trade of the country passes.

No extremes of either heat or cold are experienced, the mean average temperature being about 48° F. Being surrounded by the ocean and having the Gulf Stream flowing near the western coast, the average temperature is equal to that of countries in much lower latitudes on the European Continent, while in winter it is much higher.

The rainfall is not heavy, averaging about 34 inches annually, but what it lacks in intensity it makes up with persistence, rain falling on the majority of the days of the year.

1

POPULATION AND PRINCIPAL CITIES

According to the census of 1921, the population of the British Isles was 42,919,710, the number of persons to the square mile in England and Wales being 649 and in Scotland 164.

The principal cities with their populations, according to the 1921 census, are as shown in the following statement:

London is not only the political but also the commercial capital of the country and the headquarters of the lumber import trade.

OCCUPATIONS

According to the census returns of 1921, the occupations of the people of Great Britain (aged 12 years and upward) were as shown in the following table:

The total value of imports and exports of merchandise (excluding bullion and specie and foreign merchandise transshipped under bond) of the United Kingdom for five recent years has been as shown in the following table:

1 From Apr. 1, 1923, the figures relate to Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and include the trade between that area and the Irish Free State.

2 Provisional figures.

The following table shows the value, in thousands of pounds sterling, of imports and exports of the United Kingdom, by principal countries, for the year 1925:

The value, in thousands of pounds sterling, of the principal articles imported into the United Kingdom during the year 1925 was as shown in the following statement:

The total net tonnage of sailing, steam, and motor vessels that entered and cleared with cargoes and in ballast at ports in the United Kingdom during 1925, in thousands of tons, was as shown in the following table:

Vessels registered as belonging to the United Kingdom at the end of the year 1925 were as shown in the following table:

Great Britain is well covered with railroads and little additional construction is likely. The standard gauge is 4 feet 81⁄2 inches, all but 150 miles being of that gauge.

The great increase in the use of motor chars-à-bancs since the end of the World War has had a detrimental effect on the number of passengers carried, and steps are being taken by the large railroad companies to operate motor vehicles in conjunction with their regular business.