The imports of butter and margarine into the United Kingdom were not separately distinguished before the year 1886. Previous to that date they amounted, at five-year intervals, to the following aggregate quantities:--
1870. 1875. 1880. 1885. Cwt. 1,159,210 1,467,870 2,326,305 2,401,373
For the same years the imports of cheese registered the subjoined totals:--
1870. 1875. 1880. 1885. Cwt. 1,041,281 1,627,748 1,775,997 1,833,832
The imports of butter and margarine, both separately and together, and also the imports of cheese in each year from 1886 to 1900 inclusive, are set out in Table XVI., the most significant feature of which is the rapid expansion it shows in the imports of butter. In the space of nine years, between 1887 and 1896, the quantity was doubled. On the other hand, the general tendency of the imports of margarine, which have been much more uniform than those of butter, has been in the direction of decline since 1892. It is necessary, however, to point out that there has been an increase in the number of margarine factories in the United Kingdom, and in the quantity of margarine manufactured in them, during the last few years. Taking the imports of butter and margarine together, the aggregate in 1889 and also in 1900 was practically three times as large as a quarter of a century earlier, in 1875. The imports of cheese have increased at a less rapid rate than those of butter, and the quantity imported in 1900, which was a maximum, fell considerably short of twice the quantity in 1875. In 1886, 1887, 1888, 1890 and 1892 the imports of cheese exceeded those of butter, but since the last-named year those of butter have always been the larger, and 1899 were fully a million cwt. more than the cheese imports. The cheapness of imported fresh meat has probably had the effect of checking the growth of the demand for cheese amongst the industrial classes.
TABLE XVI.--_Imports of Butter, Margarine and Cheese into the United Kingdom, 1886-1900._
+------+-----------+-----------+------------+-----------+ | | | |Total Butter| | | Year.| Butter. | Margarine.| and | Cheese. | | | | | Margarine. | | +------+-----------+-----------+------------+-----------+ | | Cwt. | Cwt. | Cwt. | Cwt. | | 1886 | 1,543,566 | 887,974 | 2,431,540 | 1,734,890 | | 1887 | 1,513,134 | 1,276,140 | 2,789,274 | 1,836,789 | | 1888 | 1,671,433 | 1,139,743 | 2,811,176 | 1,917,616 | | 1899 | 1,927,842 | 1,241,690 | 3,169,532 | 1,907,999 | | 1890 | 2,027,717 | 1,079,856 | 3,107,573 | 2,144,074 | | 1891 | 2,135,607 | 1,235,430 | 3,371,037 | 2,041,325 | | 1892 | 2,183,009 | 1,305,350 | 3,488,359 | 2,232,817 | | 1893 | 2,327,474 | 1,299,970 | 3,627,444 | 2,077,462 | | 1894 | 2,574,835 | 1,109,325 | 3,684,160 | 2,266,145 | | 1895 | 2,825,662 | 940,168 | 3,765,830 | 2,133,819 | | 1896 | 3,037,718 | 925,934 | 3,963,652 | 2,244,525 | | 1897 | 3,217,802 | 936,543 | 4,154,345 | 2,603,178 | | 1898 | 3,209,153 | 900,615 | 4,343,026 | 2,384,069 | | 1999 | 3,389,851 | 953,175 | 4,343,026 | 2,384,069 | | 1900 | 3,378,516 | 920,416 | 4,298,932 | 2,711,805 | +------+-----------+-----------+------------+-----------+