In Table XIV., relating to the estimated home production of cheese and the imports of that article, the ten years' average indicates a home-made supply of 555.3%, imports of colonial cheese 24.2%, and imports of foreign cheese 20.5%. Comparing, however, the first with the last year of the period 1891-1900, it appears that in 1891 the proportions were 58.6% home-made, 17.2% colonial and 24.2% foreign, whereas in 1900 the percentages were 50.3, 28.9 and 20.8 respectively. Hence the colonial contribution (chiefly Canadian) has gained ground at the expense both of the home-made and of the foreign. Again, comparing 1891 with 1900, the import of cheese into the United Kingdom increased to the extent of only 24,500 tons, so that it shows no expansion comparable with that of butter, which increased by about 70,000 tons. Simultaneously the estimated home production diminished by 17,000 tons.
TABLE XIV.--_Estimated Home Production and Imports of Cheese into the United Kingdom for the Ten Years ended 30th June 1900._
+-----------+------------+---------+---------+---------+ | Year ended| Home | Imported| Imported| | | 30th June | Production,| Colonial| Foreign.| Total. | | |_estimated._| | | | +-----------+------------+---------+---------+---------+ | | Tons. | Tons. | Tons. | Tons. | | 1891 | 147,078 | 43,228 | 60,816 | 251,122 | | 1892 | 148,624 | 45,781 | 59,452 | 253,857 | | 1893 | 140,394 | 55,549 | 56,767 | 252,710 | | 1894 | 131,843 | 57,322 | 52,498 | 241,663 | | 1895 | 150,611 | 61,622 | 52,570 | 264,803 | | 1896 | 137,148 | 62,478 | 44,569 | 244,195 | | 1897 | 130,000 | 67,028 | 46,317 | 243,345 | | 1898 | 148,260 | 77,620 | 49,114 | 274,994 | | 1899 | 150,000 | 73,752 | 46,985 | 270,737 | | 1900 | 130,000 | 74,702 | 53,903 | 258,605 | | +------------+---------+---------+---------+ | 10 Years' | | | | | | Average | 141,396 | 61,908 | 52,299 | 255,603 | +-----------+------------+---------+---------+---------+
In imported colonial cheese Canada virtually has the field to itself, for the only other colonial cheese which finds its way into the United Kingdom is from New Zealand, but the amount of this kind is comparatively insignificant, having been in 1900 only 4000 tons out of a total import of 128,600 tons. Australia, in several seasons since 1891, sent small quantities, but they are not worth quoting.