At first sight it looks as though the trade figures
were not nearly so bad as they have commonly been repre- sented to be, but unhappily the Committee has to point out that it is misleading to reckon up Great Britain's share of the world's trade on the basis of values. If the calculation be made on this basis our share of the total export trade of the world actually increased during the period 1913 to 1923. The authors insist, however, that a gratifying conclusion from this bare fact is falsified by the facts that there has been a rise of 55 per cent. in the wholesale prices of the world and that our exports have in the main consisted of the more expensive classes of goods. Although we have maintained and actually rather increased our relative share of the world's trade, the volume of our share in 1924 was only three-quarters of the volume of 1913. This is not a surprise, but it is a very serious matter indeed as Great Britain more than any country in the world lives upon foreign trade.
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