Some figures of notable interest} are contained in the Maritime Customs report on the foreign trade of China for 1921. In his review of the year, Mr. J. W. H. Ferguson, Statistical Secretary, says:
"The year 1921 was generally a bad year for China and will probably prove to have been one of the worst experienced in the commercial history of the country. The trade depression of the previous year had not run its course when the year opened; over-burdened markets impeded the flow of imports: the unsettled state of large districts in the interior, coupled with extensive floods during the rainy season, restricted exports, which in tun curtailed the purchasing power of the country, as evidenced by the increasing difficulty in disposing of stocks on hand. Importers found them. selves saddled with enormous quantities of goods ordered when the post-war boom was at its height and which they found it next to impossible to dispose of without heavy loss. The steadily declining price of silver, as expressed in the falling " exchange rates, naturally had an important bearing on the course of trade in this silver using country, but it did not materially assist exports owing to the weak demand and declining prices in the Home markets already glutted with Far astern products."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.