We may deal first with one matter of outstanding interest. in general gineering. A considerable flour-. ing industry has been gradually growing up in China, and considering that the country produces a great quantity of wheat it is only natural that this should ultimately become one of her leading industrial features. Up to the present the flour milling industry has been confined practically to Shanghai and the Manchurian ports, during the year under review it learned that machinery for a flour mill has been ordered ror Mongolia, This seems to have been about the most interesting event so far as general engineering is concerned within the year, while next in importance should be ranked extensions of cotton mills.
This is almost the only evidence of the further development of the Chinese textile industry, for apparently there has been no serious effort to start new mills, The principal work which firms engaged in engineering have had to do has been in the ordinary replacements inseparable from the working of mac inery, and firms which ordinarily an cipate dealing in contracts of considerable size are unable to see any special Profit out of this type of dealing.
It was believed that generally speaking the German firms had done a satisfactory business during the summer, Dut inquiry does not seem to bear th out, In some of the lighter articles of electrical machinery, it is true, they did better than their competitors, but the general state of trade was not in their favour. For instance those importing machine tools of a compara: ly low-priced variety such as are used
the market for these fell aw:
Chinese repair shape found that The position was that the great indust concerns of Shanghai and elsewhere had ceased to work, and the Chinese shops which normally do a considerable amount of repair work for them were largely unemployed. On that account the demand for such articles was not good.
In other Jines the retorts received from German engineers are 0 more favourable than those of other nation alities. A. good deal has been made about the advantage they possess in being able to import articles manufactured at a very much cheaper rate than the British or American engineer can do, but the reply by a German firm to a question on this point indicated that the advantage was very small indeed. German prices, it was stated, are only slightly lower than those of their British or American competitors, and where, for instance, a British firm had the necessary connexion in China, it could sell British machinery at this' slightly higher rate.
Constructional Material Allied to engineering is the supply of metal for constructional work, in which may be included constructional steel and steel for reinforcing. It has been generally found during the year that orders for this class of material come almost entirely from the foreign Settlements and Concessions. As yet only a very few buildings in the interior are being built of steel or re-infareed conerete, and the result is that the demand for them depen almost entirely on the amount of foreign building going on.
There is one point here which should be of special interest to the makers of this material, and that is that the Chinese officials who have the, last word in the fixing of contracts for their buildings do not esteem the lowest price offered as giving the best value. In a recent contract which was placed by them they chose British constructional stee!—tendered, of course, at a competitive price—and the reason for their choice was the satisfaction they had~ from their previous experience of the article. This is an important point to remember in dealing with Eh It is not for a moment suggested that such material is even normally able to compete favourably with others. Belgium and Germany are all along taking the greatest part of the trade in reinforcing steel, but as the bu now going on in the foreign con: is smaller than it has been during the past two years, so much of the trade has fallen off.
The Railways So far as the railways are concerned one of the most important branches of work seems to have been in replacing the permanent way damaged during the operations of the military force Bridges from Great Britain, Ameri and the Continent have been imported, but although the country is crying out for more and better equipped railways, it was not until the end of the year that any important contracts were placed. Then came the announcement that 20,000 tons of steel rails had been ordered from the United States for the Mukden-
Hailung Railway, while later contracts of yet greater importance went to Rus: this latter being 35,000 tons or rails for the Chinese Eastern Railway. Most of the countries participating in the manufacture of such materials as the undercarriage for wagons, coaches and the like have filled various orders, but the total has not been large.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.