w Zealand, and South Africa.

The supply of flax is small, and 100,000 tons are imported to meet the
wants of the mills. The greater part is purchased in Russia, but the
finer quality is imported from Belgium. Jute is purchased from India and
manufactured into burlap and rugs.

But little available standing timber remains, and lumber must,
therefore, be imported. The pine is purchased mainly in Sweden, Norway,
Canada, and the United States. A considerable amount of wood-pulp is
imported from Canada for paper-making. Mahogany for ornamental
manufactures is obtained from Africa and British Honduras. Oak, and the
woods for interior finish, are purchased largely from Canada and the
United States.

The export trade of Great Britain consists almost wholly of the articles
manufactured with British coal as the power. These are made from the raw
materials purchased abroad, and the stamp of the British craftsman is a
guarantee of excellence and honesty. Of the total export trade,
amounting yearly to about one billion, two hundred million dollars,
nearly one-third consists of cotton, woollen, linen, and jute textiles;
one-fifth consists of iron and steel manufactured stuffs made from
British ores. About one-third goes to the colonies of the
mother-country, with whom she keeps in close touch; Germany, the United
States, and the South American states are the chief foreign buyers.

For the handling and carriage of these goods there is an admirable
system of railways reaching from every part of the interior to the
numerous ports. The rolling stock and the locomotives are not nearly so
heavy as those used in the United States; the railway beds and track
equipment, on the whole, are probably the best in the world. Freight
rates are considerably higher than on the corresponding classes of
merchandise in the United States. The public highways are most
excellent, but the means of street traffic in the cities are very poor.

The harbor facilities at the various ports are of the best. The docks
and basins are usually arranged so that while the import goods are being
landed the export stuffs are made ready to be loaded. The facilities for
the rapid transfer of freights have been improved by the reconstruction
of the various river estuaries so as to make them ship-channels. The
estuaries of the Clyde, Tyne, and Mersey have been thus improved, while
Manchester has been made a seaport by an artificial canal. The British
merchant marine is t