The  Iron  and  Coal  Trades  Review  states  that  "  the  Association  of
German  Iron  and  Steel  Manufacturers  has  recently  instituted  an
inquiry  into  the  results  of  the  new  customs  tariff  upon  the  wages
paid  in  the  iron  trade  and  upon  the  financial  position  of  the  Ger-
man iron  works.  Question  sheets  have  been  sent  out  to  all  the
German  manufacturers,  of  whom  305  had  replied  by  the  middle  of
January,  1881.  The  305  works  represented  by  these  replies  em-
ployed in  January,  1879,  a  total  of  134,652  hands,  with  monthly


STATISTICS   OF   THE    FOREIGN    IRON   TRADE.  75


wages  of  8,237,049  marks  ;  in  January  of  the  present  year  the
number  of  hands  had  increased  to  155,816,  and  the  wages  to  10,199,-
930  marks.  The  increase  has  therefore  been  15 }  per  cent,  in  the
number  of  hands,  and  23}  per  cent,  in  their  wages.  The  average
wages  in  1879  was  61.16  marks  per  month ;  in  January,  1881,  it
was  65.46  marks."

The  production  of  coal  of  all  kinds  in  Germany  in  1878  was  50,-
400,425  tons.     Since  1878  we  have  no  complete  report.
FRANCE.
The  Ministry  of  Public  Works  have  issued  the  statistics  of  the
iron,  steel,  and  coal  trades  of  France  for  1880,  from  which  we  com-
pile the  following  table,  in  metric  tons.
1879.                 1S79.  1880.                  1880.
Tons.               Total.  Tons.                Total.
