GREAT BRITAIN 388 GREAT BRITAIN 147,000 tons of fresh, cured or salted fish, while the exports of fish amounted to 136,000 tons. Mineral Production. — The total min- eral production in 1918 was 273,988,449 tons, valued at $257,079,792. Coal is the most valuable of the mineral products. The coal production in 1918 was 227,- 748,654 tons, valued at $238,240,760, Iron production is second in value. There were produced in 1918 14,613,032 tons of iron ore, valued at $7,106,656. Other important minei'al products are limestone, chalk, clay and shale, oil shale, salt, and tin. The total number of persons employed in the mines in 1918 was 1,029,688. The total number of mines was 3,277. The principal coal fields of the United Kingdom are in Durham, Yorkshire, Glamorgan and Scotland. The greatest production is from the York, Derby, and Nottingham coal fielJs, which run along the eastern flank of the Southern Pennines. There were exported in the first nine months of 1919, 32,100,000 tons of coal, valued at $71,800,000. There were imported in 1919, 5,202,707 tons of iron ore valued at $11,207,244. The greatest part of this came from Spain. There were in 1918 318 blast furnaces in operation. The ore smelted amounted to 22,544,064 tons, and the pig iron made amounted to 9,107,384 tons. The output of pig iron in 1919 was 7,370,000 tons, and of steel ingots 7,880,000 tons. Manufactures. — There were consumed in the three-year period 1917 to 1919, in textile manufactures, 1,623,000,000 pounds of cotton, 835,000,000 pounds of wool, 121,000,000 pounds of flax, or a to- tal of 2,579,000,000 pounds. The value of the products exported was: cotton, 189.- 000,000 pounds; woolen goods, 68,800.. 000 pounds; linen goods, 14,100,000 pounds; or a total of 271,900,000 pounds. The home production of wool in 1919 was 116,000,000 pounds; that of flax, 31,000,000 pounds. The exports in 1919 were: cotton, 3,611,000 yards; woolens, 175,000,000 yards; linen, 77,- 000,000 yards; cotton yarn, 163,000,000 pounds; woolen yarn, 29,000,000 pounds, and linen yarn, 13,000,000 pounds. The metal industry ranks next in importance to the textile. Engineering and metal working schools are, generally speaking, in the neighborhood of the coal fields, especially on the northeast coast and at Sheffield, London, Birmingham, and Coventry, in England; on the Clyde, in Scotland; and in Belfast, in Ireland. The leather industry is important at Bristol, Leicester, Northampton, and Nottingham. The earthen and china dis- trict is in the South Staffordshire coal fields, where there are also supplies of coarse clay and iron stone. Paper mak- ing, printing and brewing are of great importance, and distilling is carried on on a large scale in Scotland and Ire- land. Commerce. — The value of the imports of merchandise in 1919 was £1,631,901,- 864, compared with £1,316,150,903 in 1918, and with £768,734,739 in 1913. The total exports in 1919 amounted to £962,694,911, compared with £532,364,- 078 in 1918, and £634,820,326 in 1913. The imports in 1919 may be divided as follows: food, drink and tobacco, £712,- 439,000; raw materials, £646,451,000; manufactured articles, £266,746,000. The largest class of exports was in the latter class, manufactured articles. The total imports from the countries of the Brit- ish dominions in 1918 amounted to £423,- 034,971, and the total exports to British dominions amounted to £183,453,454. The imports from other countries in the same year amounted to £893,115,932. The exports to other countries were £348,910,621. The countries from which the largest number of imports were re- ceived were the United States, Argen- tina, France, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Japan, Cuba, and Chile. The chief ex- ports were to France, Italy, United States, Argentina, Netherlands, China, and Brazil. Shipping a7id Navigation. — There were in 1917 7,186 sailing vessels of 625,428 net tons, and 11,534 steam vessels meas- uring 9,606,601 tons, registered as be- longing to the United Kingdom. The output of merchant shipbuilding in 1918 was 1,310,741 tons. The total loss to the United Kingdom merchant shipping fx'om the outbreak of the World War in August, 1914, to the end of October, "918, was 9,031,828 gross tons. New construction during that period amount- ed to 4,342,296 gross tons; purchases numbered to 530,000 gross tons and enemy tonnage captured, to 716,520 gross tons, making a net loss of 3,443,- 012 gross tons. Transportation. — The total length of railways at the end of 1915, the latest date for which statistics are available, was 23,709 miles. The total capital of English railways at the end of 1917 was £1,122,655,000; of Scottish railways, £187,801,000; and of Irish railways, £309,678,000. In 1918 there were 1,202 miles of waterway in England, and 304 miles in Ireland, under the Canal Con- trol Committee. In addition, the Rail- way Executive Committee controlled 1,025 miles in England and Wales. The total traffic conveyed by canals is about 35,000,000 tons per year. The most im-
