Note 2 — Chapter II

In 1881 the receipts were 51,080,355 fr., which is 11,239,866 fr. in excess of the receipts for 1880. The number of English vessels that passed through the Canal was not only larger than the total for all other nations, it was nearly four times as large as that total, and the English percentage also showed an increase over the former year. The number of English ships was 2256. France ranked next, but she had only 109 ships—about one-twentieth what England had. Then came Holland, with 70 ships; Austria, with 65; Italy, with 51; Spain, with 46; and Germany, with 40. Egypt had only 11—the same number that Turkey had; Norway had 10 and China 4. Ten years ago the amount of coal supplied at Port Said was 126,000 tons; in 1881 it was 506,000 tons, or four times as much; and while the British proportion of the tonnage in 1871 was 64 per cent. of the total, it was 82 in 1881. Of share prices some equally interesting figures may be given. With a nominal value of 500 fr., they had fallen in 1863 to 220 fr. In 1869, the year the Canal was opened, they rose to 663 fr.; in 1880 they had reached 715 fr., and before the year closed had touched 1327 fr. They advanced to 1700 fr. in June of the following year, and between that month and January, 1882, went rapidly on to 3500 fr., but fell ere the middle of the month to 2100 fr. In 1881 the dividend on the shares was 9 per cent.; for 1882 it will probably be 12, so that 2100 fr., a point to which the shares were forced in a time of panic, even with dividends of 12 per cent., would still be far higher than the actual value of the shares.