Unfortunately there have been com-the Paratively few steamers to be troubled, not half what there were lst year; for business is still depressed. There is no money in the town and the shops are crammed with goods for which there are no purchasers. The shopmen' only hope is the American fleet, which will be here in May for some little while.
No doubt part of the dullness of business is due to fears that Vladivostok to be made s closed port. This question is to be discussed by the Duma next month. So long as Visdivostok remains a free port it will continue to grow. Close it, and with the cessation of foreign imports prices will go up and quality degenerate, for Russia has no real industry yet in these regions of her own. At least a large proportion of foreign firms in Vladivostok would have to close their doors.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.