However what I desire to point out is that Mr. Newmarch distinctly says, and rightly, there were only one hundred millions of bullion effectively imported into the country during the twenty-two years. Pass on to page 231 and read the following statement: "Prior to 1 849 the annual supplies of gold available for all the purposes of coinage, bullion, reserves, and commerce had been about four millions sterling, an amount barely sufficient to meet the wear and tear of the gold coins in circulation. In 1850 the supply was raised to nine millions; in 185 1 to fourteen millions; in 1852 to twenty-seven millions; and in 1856 to thirty-two million pounds sterling; a revolution far surpassing any economic change within record. The figures below show that there has been a gradual decline to a supply of twenty-one million pounds sterling for about the last sixteen years, say 1 86 1—1877; that is to say, the pre-discovery supply of four million pounds sterling per annum has been raised to a post-discovery supply for the ten years, 1851—1860, of about twenty-eight million pounds sterling, and for the following sixteen years, 1861—1876, of about twenty-one million pounds sterling yearly." Here Mr. Newmarch contradicts what he had correctly stated on page 222, that only one hundred million pounds sterling had been received and retained, 1856—1877. He forgot, when he came to page 231, to deduct the exports of bullion from the imports of bullion. This is the surprising explanation, and with it goes by the board root and branch the whole of the optimist argument in the second quoted passage. But the conclusion upon page 222 turns out to be equally false and misleading.
The first line of my abstract of Table XV. shows the total imports of all merchandise during the twenty-two years. Some of this foreign merchandise is after landing and (sometimes) manipulation re-shipped abroad; the official returns give in two adjoining columns the exports of British and Irish produce or manufacture, and those of foreign and colonial produce so re-shipped, separately. Mr. Newmarch added up the first column correctly as three thousand nine hundred millions pounds sterling, but he quite overlooked the second. The totals in that column are in round numbers one thousand millions of pounds sterling, which of course should have been deducted from the two thousand two hundred and ninety-six millions. This being done the difference or "balance of trade" is bonâ fide reduced to about one thousand three hundred millions of pounds sterling (the exact figures are £1,316,304,011 sterling), before any of Mr. Newmarch's arbitrary allowances, amounting together to six hundred and eighty-six
