dealing with this question it is important to arrive at a larger conception of Imperial trade than can be conveyed by any statement of figures, however elaborate and varied such a statement may be. Statistics have their proper use. They should constitute the solid groundwork of our conceptions; they should control and set a definite limit to the play of our imagination. But what it is important to realize and to exhibit clearly, are not the figures which measure trade, but the living, life-giving thing itself, which with a thousand threads knits the Empire together in a solidarity of mutual interests and obligations that an alert and wise policy ought to make indestructible.
It is necessary at the outset to give a few figures in order to convey a definite notion of the magnitude of the external trade of the Empire. In the year 1908—the last for which complete figures are available—-the combined imports and exports of the British Empire were valued at £1,520,000,000. These figures, of course, include the trade of the different States of the Empire with each other as well as with foreign countries. The following table shows approximately the relative contributions to this enormous total:
| £ | ||||
| The United Kingdom | 903,000,000 | or 59 per cent | ||
| Canada and Newfoundland | 100,000,000 | „ 6½ „ | ||
| The Commonwealth of Australia (excluding inter-state trade) |
86,000,000 | „ 5½ „ | 78½ | |
| New Zealand | 28,000,000 | „ 2 „ | ||
| South Africa | 83,000,000 | „ 5 „ | ||
| India, Straits Settlements, and Ceylon | 293,000,000 | „ 19½ „ | ||
| West Indies | 12,000,000 | „ 1 „ | 21½ | |
| Miscellaneous Colonies | 14,000,000 | „ 1 „ |
Let us examine first of all that portion of our Imperial trade which appeals particularly to us at home, the trade which Great Britain carries on with her Colonies and dependencies.
What is the amount of the trade we do with our
