Page:What colonial preference means.djvu/13

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11

sists of raw materials of all sorts, and here we enter on a somewhat controversial question. Many of the colonists, though willing to tax our food, see that to tax the raw materials of the manufactures by which we live would indeed be a large order. Yet, as was pointed out by our Government at the recent Imperial Conference, the taxation of raw materials must necessarily follow if food preferences are given. Some Colonies do not send us food at all, such as South Africa, and others, such as Australia, send us mainly wool or metals. It is, therefore, necessary to consider the following table of our imports of raw materials:—


IMPORTS OF RAW MATERIALS, 1906.
Summary of Class II.
From
Foreign
Countries.
From Self-
Governing
Colonies.
From Other
British
Possessions.
Total.
£ £ £ £
A. Coal, Coke, and Manufactured Fuel 47,037 63 47,100
Percentage 99.9  .1
B. Iron Ore, Scrap Iron, and Steel 6,632,079 29,535 105,142 6,766,756
Percentage 98.1  .4 1.5
C. Other Metallic Ores 6,622,439 1,948,805 458,900 9,030,144
Percentage 73.3  21.5  5.2
D. Wood and Timber 21,279,840 5,039,303 1,188,267 27,507,410
Percentage 77.4 18.3  4.3
E. Cotton 54,281,052 145,158 1,699,043 56,125,253
Percentage 96.8  .2  3.0
F. Wool 7,136,546 21,754,313 1,624,859 30,515,718
Percentage 23.3 71.2  5.5
G. Other Textile Materials 7,401,587 724,431 8,898,695 17,024,713
Percentage 43.4  4.2 52.4
H. Oil Seeds, Nuts, Oils, Fats and Gums 16,662,248 2,746,679 6,225,287 25,634,214
Percentage 65.0 10.7 24.3
I. Hides and Undressed Skins 5,504,939 3,446,244 1,748,513 10,699,696
Percentage 51.4 32.3 16.3
J. Materials for Paper Making 3,675,879 189,018 70,512 3,935,409
Percentage 94.3  4.0  1.7
K. Miscellaneous 18,662,953 2,129,686 3,399,275 24,191,914
Percentage 77.1  8.8 14.1
Total    £  147,906,599 38,153,172 25,418,556 211,478,327
70  18  12