Counsellor in China, sails from London on December 24, having postponed his journey by 14 days. Almost his Jast public appearance was to address the members of the Commercial Committee of the House of Commons. He has travelled all over the country and visited 500 firms, half of them being in the London area. He finds every evidence of the growing interest in British trade with China, though in one place, which I will not name, he was taken to task for the observation in his report that he was ready to recommend agents for British firms, it being suggested that this was not part of his business. No one else shares this view.
He thinks that, despite the can-collation of contracts, Chinese commercial honesty still stands very high, although he does not think that the part played by British merchants in the execution of business transactions is always fully appreciated by those who ascribe all the credit to the Chinese. He thinks too that in export trade matters British firms, and also those of other nationalities, have done much to maintain the standard of the goods exported. He does not recommend purely Chinese export firms, as he has convinced himself there is a tendency to adulterate all goods, including silk, cotton and oil seeds.
This tendency is less manifest when the goods are sold at a small profit, but is always noticeable when the prices rise. Export trade from China is of course bad, though this is partly due to the refusal of the Chinese to recognize that they can no longer count on the maintenance of war prices for their produce.
Too Exernsive ror CHINA.
Manufacturers are fortunately now beginning to tindertake—to guarantee delivery, but he does not disguise from himself the fact that at the present rate British products are probably too expensive for China. Some manufacturers seem to think that the British merchants in China are inclined to take too great a commission and are anxious to get in touch directly with the consumer, but, as Mr. Fox has always wisely pointed out, they do not adopt that practice in this country, and why, therefore. should they expect to do it in the Far East? At the same time, the Chinese buyer has a grudge against the British manufacturer, who is not attempting to carry out in some cases his contracts, and there is actually one case on record where the- Chinese buyer was told that the only way he could get his contract carried out was by giving a bonus to the workmen. This seems to be about the limit.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.