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(4) Summarised Classification of Articles by Groups. —The suggestion made in. 1907 as to the inclusion in the Trade Returns of summary statements of imports and exports by groups (i.e., food, drink, and tobacco ; raw materials ; manufactured articles ; miscellaneous ; and bullion and specie), distinguishing trade with the United Kingdom, British Possessions, and Foreign Countries, has met with considerable approval, and its partial adoption is gratifying, especially in view of the fact that a good deal of additional clerical labour is involved in the compilation of such information. Although a summary in the form suggested in the Note of 1907 is now included in the Trade Statistics of several of the Colonies, it is found, on reference to the latest available returns, that its inclusion has not, as yet, become general. Such a summary is not at present included in the. Trade Returns of- — British India. Seychelles. St. Vincent. Commonwealth of Australia. British East Africa. Grenada. Dominion of New Zealand. Southern Nigeria. Leeward Islands. British South Africa. Gold Coast. Trinidad and Tobago. Newfoundland. Jamaica. Malta, and Fiji. Turks and Caicos Islands. Cyprus. Ceylon. Barbados. The Governments of Fiji, Gold Coast, St. Vincent, Malta, and Cyprus have, however, expressed their intention to include the desired summary in future issues of their Returns. Some other of the Crown Colonies continue to give a summary classified on the lines recommended by the Trade Committee of 1891, and in a few cases have amplified this by distinguishing the trade under each group with various countries. This Committee, which was appointed to inquire into the compilation of import and export statistics in the Colonies, recommended, inter alia, the adoption of a general w classification of articles under the headings of (1) Live Animals, Food and Drink, and Narcotics ; (2) Raw Materials; (3) Manufactured Articles; and (4) Coin and Bullion. Such a classification has been adopted in many of the Crown Colonies, but the trade carried on with the United Kingdom, British Possessions, and Foreign Countries under each group has not been uniformly distinguished in the summary. At the time of the inquiry in 1891 it was thought essential to avoid the use of a " Miscellaneous " heading, and to include " Live Animals " with the " Food and Drink" class. Since then, however, some of the Colonies have specified as " Unenumerated," articles which cannot be correctly allocated to one or other of the above groups, and a "Miscellaneous" heading has accordingly now become necessary. Under this heading all live animals, other than those for food, should be classed. It seems desirable, if uniformity is to be attained, that the summary classification at present presented in some Colonies in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee of 1891, should be amplified, where necessary, not only by the inclusion of a " Miscellaneous " group, but also by distinguishing under each group the trade carried on with the United Kingdom, British Possessions, and Foreign Countries, as suggested in 1907. It may be remarked that, although a group summary is not included in all the Colonial Trade Returns (as above stated), the requisite information in summary form has been compiled for the various Self-Governing Dominions, as well as for Ceylon, Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago for the year 1909, and specially furnished to the Board of Trade for use in the " Statistical Abstract for the British Empire," so that, in these cases, there will probably be little difficulty in including such a summary compiled on similar lines in future issues of the trade statistics for those parts of the Empire. It is desirable, however, that if returns under a "group" classification are to be of use for comparative purposes, the articles themselves should be summarised on a uniform basis, and there is some reason to believe that this is not at present the case. For instance, some of the Colonies apparently classify " oils " and " wood and timber" as " manufactured," these articles being classed in the United Kingdom Returns as " raw materials," —except as regards " edible oils," which are included with " food stuffs." In other cases, " unwrought metals " (such as plates, sheets, &c ) are sometimes classed in the Colonial Returns as "raw materials," whereas in the United Kingdom Returns all metals (except ore and old iron and steel) are classed under