Wenchow has been opened foreign trade 43 years, yet few people could pass 'a successful ex amination on its big staple industries, and would probably be "at sea" if asked any questions about the peculiar local trades which, small in themselves, yet give this port and district a' marked char acter of its own.
Wenchow has not. yet attained that. success in the business world which appeared possible in the early years following its opening to foreign trade, Several reasons may be assigned for this comparative failure to make good, amongst others being:—(") the tendency to regard the port as a close preserve for a shipping company which lacked foresight, efficiency and enterprise: (b) the remarkable out of-the-worldness of that class of the community who called them selves business men": and the lack ut a few really wealthy men who could have organized the numerous rivulets of trade, and made them flow into the channel of commercial success.
Whilst prophecy is a dangerous and unreliable thing, yet, with a decided breaking away at the present time from these three setbacks one may venture on the opinion that Wenchow will make greater progress the next 10 years than she has done during the last Her trade is many-sided. In the old Prefecture the following commodities are to he found in business-paying quantities:—tea, silk, ranges, cotton, wheat, sugar, eggs, lard, camphor, and alum. The day of the minerals is dawning. I numerable eyes are seeking for th treasures hidden for long ages in the hills and mountains of the district, and there is already evidence that the search will not prove vain Wenchow, however, has a few peculiar local trades which not only provide a livelihood for many of its people, but furnish evidence of An Old Scene at Siccawei: the tower has since disappeared. the enterprise and skill of certain classes of the communi Herewith a few are briefly indicated
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.