During the sixties our commerce on the whole increased,
the imports having gone up from kr. 63,000,000 in 1860, to
kr. 103,000,000 in 1870, and the exports from kr. 50 or 60,000,000
to kr. 81,000,000. Our shipping during the same period made an
extremely rapid advance, our mercantile marine having increased
from 550,000 register tons to 1,000,000 tons.
At the beginning of the seventies the times were unusually
brilliant, and our import and export in 1874 reached the
hitherto unknown figures of kr. 186,000,000 and kr. 121,000,000
respectively, and the aggregate amount of commerce consequently
kr. 307,000,000, while our shipping at the same time brought
about kr. 60,000,000 into the country. Our mercantile marine
at the expiration of the same year amounted to 1,317,000 tons.
During the latter part of the seventies, however, times were depressed,
and the aggregate amount of commerce in 1879 went down
to kr. 221,000,000. Even the mercantile marine which, since 1826,
had grown without interruption, was somewhat reduced in 1879
(from 1,527,000 to 1,511,000 tons).
Since that time conditions have again changed. After some
improvement in the beginning of the eighties, there c am e some
years of depression, especially with regard to shipping. The years
1888 and 1889 again brought better conditions. During the last-
mentioned year our commerce reached the figure kr. 324,000,000,
and our mercantile marine, which, in the course of the 'eighties’
had fluctuated considerably, reached the figure of 1,611,000 tons’
whereof 1,443,000 tons were represented by sailing vessels and
168.000 tons by steamships.
The succeeding years (1890—1895) were, on the whole, a
period of commercial depression. Commercial transactions however,
increased to kr. 353,000,000 in 1891, but during the following
three years they remained between 330 and 340 million kr. Towards
the end of 1895, commercial life again began to revive, and
commercial transactions, during the unushally favourable and brisk
years, 1897 and 1898, reached a higher point than ever before,
respectively kr. 431,400,000 and kr. 439,500,000. (Cf. the
following diagram showing the development of our commerce since
1870). Our fleet of sailing-vessels reached its highest point
1.503.000 tons, at the end of .1890; but it has again gone down
to 1,121,000 tons since that time, on account of the numerous
shipwrecks, and because trading with sailing-vessels does not a t
DEVELOPM EN T OF THE COMMERCE OF NORWAY SINCE 1870.
i ________ Import;
--------- .— Export;
• ....................... Excess^ of import.
present generally pay except for long voyages. The fleet of steamships
during the nine .years, 1890-—98, has gone up from 168,000
to 438,000 tons. The total carrying power (see page 415), which
from 1892 to 1894 remained almost unchanged, has since that
time increased from 2,222,000 tons at the beginning of 1895, to
2,696,000 tons at the beginning of 1899, a point never before
reached.
IV. PRINCIPAL ARTICLES IMPORTED AND EXPORTED.
A. IMPORTED GOODS.
The goods imported may be divided into two chief groups
according to the object of the importation, imports for consumption
and imports for purposes of production. During the year 1898, as
mentioned above, goods were imported for the former purpose to
the value of kr. 163,000,000 (58 % of the total imports) and for
the latter purpose, to the value of kr. 117,000,000 (42 %).
Among the articles of consumption, the articles of food and
drink are of the greatest importance. In the years, 1866 to
1870, we imported, on an average, of such goods to a value of
kr. 52,000,000, and in 1898 of kr. 97,500,000; but their ratio to
the total import of the country has gone down from 52 % to