128 AUSTRALIA’S FLUCTUATING ADVANTAGE IN
classical burst of borrowing after 1880; but the ‘cross-over’ to
an excess of exports in 1892 is so sharp and abrupt, and is maintained
 so unwaveringly until 1914, that the Australian experiment
 is even more satisfactory than the American. It is this
period, after the great change in the balance in commodity trade
occurs, that more intimately concerns us at the moment. The
figures for capital loans, and annual interest payable in respect

Tapre XXI

New Loans and Percentage of Exports over Imports

Year.

1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
897
1898
i899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1012

New loans!
£m.

6-720
9-230
8-147
8-321
1-179
2-184
5-386
3-696
3-956
5-371
3-823
5-2
6-7
50
1-7
0-7
2:0

 &

Percentage of
exports over
imports?

83-4
95-6
110-8
139-8
146-7
145-0
111-1
118-2
127-6
141-6
111-0
117-1
108-0
127-6
1565-3
148-2
1565-9
140-6
120-1
127-6
124-1
118-7
101-2
98.5

of these by Australia, are given above; and the feature to be
smphasized concerning the volume of the flow is the fluctuation
trom mere trickle to great flood as between one year and another.
Still more informative and even more definite for the purpose
of correlation is the comparison of the percentage of total
exports over imports with the volume of new loans. It is not
1 From figures prepared by Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics.
1 rom Commonwealth Year Book, No. 8.