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and our export trades, is covered by the proceeds of the
shipping, of which we have spoken above. Until the end of the
eighties it may be estimated that in most years this difference
has been covered, a few years having even given a surplus,
while during the last ten years, the proceeds from the shipping
were not sufficient to cover the difference between the imports
and exports. But here it should be noted that the importation
of means of production and raw materials has increased to a
much greater extent than the importation of articles of consumption.
The imports of the first kind have gone up, during the last ten
years (from 1888 to 1898), from kr. 50,000,000 to kr. 117,000,000,
those of the latter kind from kr. 108,000,000 to kr. 163,000,000.
The imports for productive purposes from 1866 to 1870 represented
28 %, from 1871 to 1875 32 %, from 1876 to 1880 only 26 %,
in 1888 32 %, and in 1898 42 % of the total imports. This
development is chiefly owing to the growth of Norwegian industry.
Imports of articles of consumption amount now, as they did in the
seventies, to about the same quantity as the exports. In this
connection it should, however, be kept in mind that the said productive
import to a certain extent is also indirectly consumed through the
domestic consumption of industrial products. The consumption of
articles intended for enjoyment and luxuries has also increased
quite considerably. Much foreign capital has been invested of late
in industrial enterprises and in Norwegian government and
municipal bonds, and the banks have also drawn considerable foreign
capital into the country.
The great advance made by Norwegian commerce and shipping
during the last generation is, of course, closely connected with the
extraordinary development of the world’s commerce, and
international intercourse during the same period. The mercantile marine
of the world, as regards its effective carrying power, is now about
five times as large as it was in 1850, and the total value of
commercial transactions two and a half times as great as it was from
about 1860 to 1865. From what has been stated before, it appears
that the commerce and shipping of Norway, taken on the whole,
has not only been able to keep pace with this rapid development
of the world, but has even made a relatively more marked progress.
Our commerce is now more than three times as large as it was
in the first half of the sixties, and our effective tonnage is nine
times as large as it was in 1850, although even at that time it
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