16 MAY 1908, Page 17

THE HOME TRADE OF 1907.

iTo TDB EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."' your "News of the Week " paragraphs last week you speak of last year as having been a record year both in the home and foreign trade. This can hardly be correct. Judging by the employment—admitted on all hands to be our best test—the 1907 (total) trade was almost exactly the average of the decade. But the volume of foreign trade was altogether abnormal. It necessarily follows that the home trade, so far from representing a boom, was considerably below the average. I venture to offer this correction, feeling sure that the last thing you would wish would be to make a misleading statement, even in support of a cause that you have much at heart.—I am, Sir, &c.,