38
BELGIUM.
The commercial intercourse of Belgium with Great Britain is shown in the subjoined tabular statement, giving the total exports from Belgium to the United Kingdom, and the total imports into Belgium of the produce and manufactures of Great Britain and Ireland, in the ten years 1860-69 : —
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Exports from Belgium
Imports of British Home
to Great Britain
Produce into Belgium
£
&
1860
4,079,245
1,610,144
1861
3,817,800
1,925,852
1863
4,876,212
1,828,622
1864
5,174,221
2,107,332
1865
7,379,893
2,921,300
1866
7,906,849
2,861,386
1867
7,555,202
2,816,481
1868
8,255,043
3,150,105
1869
9,391,403
4,003,535
The staple article of exports from Belgium to the United King- dom consists in silk manufactures, to the value of 2,431,588/. w Next in importance stands woollen and worsted yarn for weaving, ex- ported to the value of 1,138,865/. in 1869. The minor articles of export to Great Britain comprise chiefly agriculture produce. The imports of British home produce into Belgium consist in the main of woollen and cotton manufactures, the former of the value of 771,661/., and the latter of 500,798/. in the year 1869. It will be noticed that while the imports of British produce increased considerably in the ten years 1860 to 1869, they are still less than one-half of the value of the exports to the United Kingdom.
The international commerce of the kingdom is almost entirely carried on by foreigners, chiefly under the Dutch and British flags.
One of the most important natural productions of Belgium, and chief basis of its industry, is coal, which is raised in ever increasing quantities. It is found in three out of the nine provinces of the kingdom, Hainault, Liege, and Namur. The distribution of the mines, and amount of production, in the year 1866, was as follows : —
Province
Number of coal mines
Number of shafts in work
Amount of coal obtained in 1866
Value
Hainault Liege . Namur .
Total of Kingdom .
130
116
40
2()4 96 35
Tons 9,851,424 2,564,551 358,687
Francs 120,507,630 27,682,765 2,841,179
286
335
12.774,662
151,031,574 £6,041,263
