At the end of the year 1864, there were 26,142 sailing vessels of 4,930,219 tons, and 2,490 steam vessels of 697,281 tons registered in the ports of the United Kingdom. Compared with the numbers at the close of 1863, the number of vessels is almost precisely the same, the sailing vessels fewer, but the steamers more numerous; but the tonnage has considerably increased, the sailing by about 200,000 and the steam by about 100,000 tons. The increase was almost entirely in the larger class of vessels, those of above 50 tons. At the end of 1864 there were 16,325 sailing vessels above 50 tons, their aggregate being 4,626,863 tons, and 1,564 steam vessels above 50 tons, their aggregate being 675,320 tons. 668 vessels of 175,763 tons belonging to the United Kingdom were wrecked in the year 1864, and 105 vessels of 10,573 tons were broken up.

From a return made by the Board of Trade to Parliament, it appears that the Board has, during the thirteen years, 1852-64, received from all parts of the world notices of the deaths from various causes of 47,052 seamen, averaging 3,620 deaths a-year. On the coasts and in the seas of the British Isles, between 5,000 and 6,000 shipwrecked persons are placed annually in peril of their lives, but owing to the prompt exertions made by lifeboats and other means, the actual loss of life from such disasters does not exceed 450 lives.

3. The Cotton Trade.

The receipts of raw cotton in the year 1864 amounted to 893,304,720lb., as compared with 669,583,264lb. in 1863; 523,973,296lb. in 1862; 1,256,984,736lb. in 1861; 1,390,938,752lb. in 1860; 1,225,989,0721b. in 1859; 1,034,342,176lb. in 1858; 969,318,896lb.in 1857; 1,023,886,304lb. in 1856; and 891,751,952lb. in 1855. The great year in the cotton trade was 1860, and comparing 1862 with 1860, it is seen that the supplies declined to the extent of 866,965,4561b., while comparing 1863 with 1862, there is a recovery of 369,331,424lb. The receipts of 1864 were still, however, below the level of 1860 by 497,634,032lb., although they were somewhat in excess of those of 1855, when no special influence depressed the imports. The exports of cotton from the United kingdom have very greatly increased of late years), having amounted to 244,702,304lb. in 1864, against 241,352,496lb. in 1863; 214,714,528lb. in 1862; 298,287,920lb. in 1861; 250,339,040lb; in 1860; 175,143,136lb. in 1859; 149,609,600lb. in 1858; 131,927,600lb. in 1857; 146,660,864lb. in 1856; and 124,368,160lb. in 1855. It will be seen that the exports of cotton have very materially expanded since the ordinary course of the trade was disturbed by the civil war in the United States. The following table gives some statistics of factories for cotton goods, extracted from a return laid before Parliament in 1861 :

It appears from the above return that each cotton factory in England has, on the average, 10,000 spindles and 150 operatives, while in Scotland and Ireland there are 13,000 spindles and 300

workers to every factory. Consequently, in England there is one operative to 67, and in Scotland and Ireland one to 43 spindles

The total amount of raw cotton imported into the United Kingdom during the years 1850 to 1864, with the total exported, and excess of imports over exports, is shown in the subjoined table :

The quantity of raw cotton imported into the United Kingdom in 1815 amounted to only 99,000,000 pounds; it rose to 152,000,000 in 1820; to 229,000,000 in 1825; to 264,000,000 in 1830; to 364,000,000 in 1835; to 592,000,000 in 1840; and to 722,000,000 in 1845.

4. Mines and Minerals.

The mineral wealth of the United Kingdom is represented in the following estimated number of mines:

According to the report of Mr. Robert Hunt, keeper of mining records in the Museum of Practical Geology, the mineral statistics for the year 1864 were as follows:

Coal. There were at work during 1864, wholly or in part, 3,268 collieries in Great Britain and Ireland. In 1853 there appear to have been only 2,397. The quantity of coal raised, sold, and used during

the year 1864 from all these works was 92,787,873 tons. The largest quantities were produced from the following coalfields :

There was an increase in the exportations of coal to foreign ports in 1864 of 525,208 tons, the quantity exported in 1863 being 8,275,212 tons, against 8,800,420 tons in 1864. From the coalfields shipping coal, the quantities sent to ports in the United Kingdom amounted to 10,588,132 tons in 1863, and in 1864 they had risen to 10,970,711 tons.

2. Iron. The extension of iron manufacture, and the increasing development of iron ore-producing districts is shown every year in the returns. In 1864 there were obtained 10,064,890 tons of iron This was employed to feed 612 blast furnaces, which produced of pig iron :

ore.

The total make of the kingdom being 4,767,951

Of pig iron there were exported 465,951 tons; all the rest was converted into merchant iron. This was effected at 127 iron works, where 6,262 puddling furnaces were in activity, and 718 rolling mills performing their labours of producing bars and rails.

3. Gold. During 1864 gold was obtained from five mines in Merionethshire; 2,336 tons of auriferous quartz were crushed and treated by the amalgamating processes. From this there were obtained 2,887 ounces of gold, the value of which was 9,9917.

4. Tin.-The tin obtained from the mines of Cornwall and Devonshire in 1864, was in excess of that ever before procured, although the tin mines and stream works of this district have been worked for more than 2,000 years. There were raised 15,211 tons of tin ore in 1864, the largest quantity from very deep mines. This produced of metallic tin 10,108 tons. The value of the ore sold was 925,9697.

5. Copper. From 192 mines in South-Western England, and about 30 distributed over other parts of the United Kingdom, 214,604 tons of copper ore, producing 13,302 tons 13 cwt. of metallic copper, were obtained in 1864.

6. Lead and Silver.-There were 94,433 tons of lead ore, prin

cipally galena, dressed, sold, and smelted, in 1864. 91,283 tons of lead, and gave 641,088 oz. of silver.

This produced

7. Zinc. Of zinc ores, nearly all being the sulphide of zinc, 15,047 tons were mined, producing 4,040 tons of metal. Of iron pyrites ores used for the sulphur they contain in sulphuric acid and soda works-there were procured 94,458 tons.

The total value, at the place of production, of the minerals obtained in 1864 (exclusive of building stones, bricks, and the like) was 31,604,0471. The value of the metal smelted from the metalliferous ores was 15,281,8697., so that if this is added to the value of coals at the pit's mouth, 23,197,9681., and 1,500,000l. the estimated value of the earthy minerals, it gives an aggregate value of mineral wealth of 39,979,8377.

The coal raised in 1864 amounted to about one ton per working day for each of the 307,000 male persons employed. 867 lives were lost in the year 1864 by accidents that is to say, one in every 354 men employed, or one to every 109,715 tons of coal raised. Large as was this loss of life, it is satisfactory by comparison. In the five years 1856-60 the quantity of coal raised averaged little more than 75,000,000 tons a year, but the deaths averaged above 1,000 a year, one to about 73,400 tons of coal raised. In the three years 1861-63, the deaths averaged 994 a year. The following is a summary of the lives lost in the coal mines of the United Kingdom for the ten years ending 1860:

The number of collieries at work increased from 2,397 in 1853 to 3,180 in 1863, and 3,268 in 1864.

Colonies.

The colonies and dependencies of Great Britain embrace about one-third of the surface of the globe, and nearly a fourth of its population. Official returns state the area of these possessions to be 4,346,996 square miles, or more than thirty times the extent of the United Kingdom. Of this vast dominion, above a million square miles are in India, more than a million and a half in Australasia, and more than half a million in North America. The population, according to the latest returns, was 152,774,672, or more than five times the population of the United Kingdom. Of this number 143,271,210 are the presumed population of British India. The following table gives the estimated area and population according to the returns of the year 1862: