BALANCE OF TRADE AND PAYMENTS The only official estimates of the various items on the two sides of the Irish Free State's account with the rest of the world appeared in the Irish Trade Journal (official) of March 31, 1926. Expert opinion holds that there has not been any very material change in the position since 1924-25. The adverse trade balance for the fiscal year 1924-25 amounted to £18,154,000, in 1925-26 to £19,221,000, and in 1926-27 to £18,561,000. The invisible exports which were analyzed in the Irish Trade Journal included income from investments abroad, estimated at £11,000,000; emigrants' remittances, estimated at £2,250,000; war pensions paid by the British Government to persons living in the Irish Free State, £2,347,000; and the export of specie (1924), £231,000. Compensation paid by the British Government in respect of damage to property and personal injury, an adjustment of post-office transactions, and a small item of interest on Irish bank loans to the money market total an additional £2,172,000. On the other side, invisible imports include estimates of profit on investment of foreign capital in the Irish Free State, £3,340,000, while land purchase annuities, pensions paid abroad, local loans fund, and other annuities included in the agreement with Great Britain, account for an additional £5,304,000. Taking these items into account, the adverse balance is reduced from over £18,000,000 to £8,800,000. There are a number of factors which are not considered-commission earnings of manufacturers' agents and commercial travelers resident in the Saorstat, expenditures of foreign visitors, and insurance payments to oversea insurance companies the total of which is thought to reach a considerable sum. The starting of a number of new factories in the Free State, as a result of the new import duties and the Shannon development, has caused a large import of machinery and supplies which plays a part in temporarily exaggerating the negative trade balance. At Reference should also be made to the large holdings of British Government and Indian government stock held in Ireland. June 30, 1922, the quantity so held was estimated at well over £100,000,000, most of which was owned by the Free State, but there has been a decline in such holdings in recent years, the figures for all Ireland being £116,257,000 in 1924 and £108,118,000 in 1926. Commenting on the decline in bank deposits held in Ireland, the Irish Trade Journal states: The decline in bank deposits in 1924 and 1925 does not indicate a real balance when all visible and invisible items have been taken into account. But even if bad harvests and low prices of agricultural produce during the past few years have compelled the farmers of this country to realize on their savings, they had a considerable accumulation of past profits upon which to draw. Another evidence that the Irish farmer may have had to draw on his savings in the decline in the number of cattle in the country up to 1927. Prof. John Busteed (in the Irish Statesman, 1926) arrives at the conclusion that in 1925 the Irish Free State was living on its savings to the extent of at least £7,000,000 per annum, including therein some productive expenditure on new plant. The disparity between the prices realized by the farmer for his produce and the price which he has to pay for manufactured goods bears heavily on the agricultural community, and the productivity of Irish farming plays an important part in determining the quantities and values of produce the nation is able to export in exchange for its imports. There are so many unsolved quantities in this problem that it is impossible to say whether or not the Free State has paid its way during its first five years. TOURISTS Among the several avenues for increasing the wealth of the country, its scenic attractions have not been overlooked by the Free State as a means of augmenting national and individual income. The Irish Tourist Association was incorporated in 1925, and by special legislative enactment local authorities in the Free State were empowered to spend money in exploiting the tourist advantages and amenities of each vicinity. Each year the Irish Tourist Association has been provided with more funds from various local governments for the purpose of interesting tourists from abroad in visiting the country. A new hotel has just been completed in Dublin, the services of which compare favorably with first-class British and United States hotels; hotel conferences have taken up the question of improved service; the railways have instituted auxiliary motor services in scenic areas and have scheduled low summer rates; Irish scenery, hunting, and fishing are well known, and many persons of Irish birth who are citizens of other countries have a natural inclination to visit the old country. On these grounds are based the hope of bringing more tourists to fish in the Shannon and motor around the Killarney Lakes. TRADE BY COUNTRIES In 1925, 70 per cent of the total imports into the Irish Free State were British consignments amounting to £44,185,000; imports from Northern Ireland amounted to £6,848,000, or 11 per cent of the total; those from the United States amounted to £3,162,000, or 5 per cent; and Argentine, Canadian, and Australian goods accounted for another 5 per cent of the total. Thus over 90 per cent of all imports into the Free State were consigned from six countries. The upsets of the abnormal year 1926 reduced the British share of the total trade from 70 to 65 per cent and that of Northern Ireland from 11 to 10 per cent, and increased the American share from 5 to 8 per cent. It is also interesting to note that certain imports of German and Belgian goods doubled in 1926, presumably as the result of large imports in connection with the Shannon electricity scheme and the sugar-beet factory at Carlow. Turning to the export side, 83 per cent of the Irish merchandise exported in 1926 was consigned to Great Britain (£34,366,000) and 13 per cent to Northern Ireland (£5,446,000). Exports to the United States constituted less than 1 per cent (£306,000) of the total. British goods were exported to India to the extent of £82,027,000 in 1926; to Australia, £61,206,000; to the United States, £47,941,000; and the Irish Free State, £34,764,000. Thus, the Irish Free State is the fourth largest market for British merchandise; but when considered in proportion to population the consumption of British goods in the Irish Free State at £11 14s. per person stands higher than that of any other country except New Zealand. On the other hand the Irish Free State stands twelfth in the list of the nations supplying the British market. But here, again, from the point of view of the number of persons in the supplying country, the Irish Free State takes a high position in the list, being preceded only by New Zealand and Denmark. The Irish Free State supplies Britain with goods equivalent to £13 15s. per capita. COMMERCIAL TREATIES AND TRADE REPRESENTATIVES The Franco-Saorstat commercial convention, the negotiations in connection with which are nearing completion, replaces, so far as the Irish Free State is concerned, the convention concerning the commercial and maritime relations between France and Great Britain of February 28, 1882. The proposed Saorstat-German commercial convention, which is being negotiated at present, is in lieu of the treaty of commerce and navigation between the United Kingdom and Germany, signed at London, December 2, 1924. The Irish Free State did not adhere to the foregoing convention. The following treaties have been denounced recently by the Irish Free State, and it is proposed to enter into negotiations with the Governments of the countries mentioned for the conclusion of direct treaties, namely: Treaty of commerce and navigation between Great Britain and Spain, signed at Madrid, October 31, 1922; treaty of commerce and navigation between Great Britain and Portugal, signed at Lisbon, August 12, 1924; treaty of commerce and navigation between Great Britain and Italy, signed at Rome, June 15, 1883. For the promotion of Irish trade, official trade representatives have been placed in London, Paris, New York, and Brussels, carrying on work of the same nature as is performed by the representatives of the United States Department of Commerce situated abroad. TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATES In the exchange of goods between the United States and the Free State direct trade, in both directions, is only a part of the story. Transshipment through British centers accounts in most cases for a considerably larger volume than is sold on direct consignment. Irish wool and woolens and horses, for example, are sold and shipped largely through London and Liverpool. Commenting on the direct shipments from the Irish Free State to the United States in 1926, as detailed in the following table, Consul Boucher writes: Although the industrial situation in Great Britain forced Irish exporters to seek new markets for their products, the effect on direct exports to the United States was negligible. The total value of consigned exports in 1926 at £306,395 increased by little more than 3 per cent compared with the previous year and about 40 per cent compared with 1924, when, however, the exchange value of the pound was still at a low level. As in previous years, the great bulk of direct exports in 1926 was composed of shipments of wool fleeces and fabrics, pickled mackerel, and horses-items which constituted over three-fourths of all direct exports to the United States. The most striking change in the year's export trade was in shipments of pickled mackerel, which, at £44,916, fell in value by over 44 per cent, although the decrease in quantity amounted to only 7 per cent. Exports of fleeces of wool (both greasy and 79129°-28-6 |