discounts, drawbacks, and bounties of the nature of drawbacks, and excluding therefrom miscellaneous receipts, and the rate per head of the population of such revenue; also the amount of property and profits assessed for the income tax, the amount of income per head of the population, and the poundage of said taxation on such income, for Great Britain and Ireland in the year ending the 31st day of March 1862 ::

Another Parliamentary return states that in Great Britain the annual average amount of property and income tax contributed per head of population in the quinquennial period ending March 31, 1858, was 10s. 4 d., and in Ireland 2s. 103d. The annual average in Great Britain in the quinquennial period ending March 31, 1863, was 7s. 114d., and in Ireland 2s. 4d.

Commerce and Trade.

1. Imports and Exports.

The declared real value of the total imports and exports of merchandise into and from the United Kingdom for the years 1862, 1863, and 1864, is shown in the following table :—

:

The imports of each of the years 1863 and 1864 were divided as follows, in the order of their value in 1864, among the principal British Colonies and foreign countries:

The sum total in the above table includes the countries not enumerated, sixteen in number, the imports of which into the United Kingdom were less than half a million sterling in 1863-64. The whole of these states, down to the smallest importing territory, are given in the following table, which shows the value of the imports from British possessions and foreign countries during the first half of 1864 and 1865.

A comparison of the above table with the preceding one is interesting, as showing the extraordinary changes in the course of trade that took place in 1863-5. While, in the year 1863, the United States were second in the list of foreign importers, and third in 1864, they fell to the sixth place in the first half of 1865. There are other changes not less striking in regard to the minor sources of the 250 to 270 millions of annual imports into the United Kingdom.

The falling off, by about 19 per cent., in the value of the imports, during the first half of 1865, seems to have been almost entirely consequent on the reduction in the price of cotton, which caused India to figure for only 9,489,1887., against 20,503,5107. in the first half of last year, and Egypt for only 8,964,9471., against 11,040,8417.; while China and Brazil, also from that cause, exhibit a proportionate diminution.

The following table shows the relative division of the exports of home produce from the United Kingdom to British Colonies and

It was

foreign states, the list of the various countries being arranged according to the value of the exports which they received in 1864. The total value of British and Irish produce and manufactures exported in 1864 was 160,436,3027., against 146,602,3427. in 1863 -an increase of 9 per cent. The amount taken by British possessions was, in 1864, as usual, nearly a third of the whole, although the relative proportion was not quite so large as in 1863. 34 per cent. of the entire total in 1863, while in 1864 it was 32 per cent. The United States continue to hold the second place in the list, but they are very little in excess of Germany. Turkey and Egypt figure for greatly augmented totals in consequence of the cotton movement. Brazil is likewise conspicuous for the same cause, and the States generally both of South and Central America, especially New Granada, Mexico, the Argentine Republic and Uruguay, continue yearly to occupy more important relative positions. The shipments to Japan, which only amounted to 217, in the year 1862, and were 108,8977. in 1863, reached 629,0851. in 1864. Among the countries that show a fair increase are the Netherlands, China, Cuba, Russia, Belgium, Sweden and Norway, Hayti, Peru, Denmark, Java, and the Philippine Islands. Among those that show a decrease are Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the Austrian territories. EXPORTS OF HOME PRODUCE.