In fact, there was a growing demand for all sorts of articles of personal attire, yet the British were very badly represented. He—had never come across any' British hardware; it was all German. Nails, saws, ete, were either German or American. Metal goods, such as corrugated iron sheets, all came from the United States. We did not get our share of the trade in machinery or anything like it, The Japanese still retained an advantage inasmuch as they had refused to abandon the 33 1/3 per cent. rebate on all Japanese goods ear-ried overland from Japan through Korea, whereas all the other nations had abandoned any such rebate, other words, the Japanese goods received-a rebate'on the 5 per: cent, Prive to the, recent tariff negotia tions, but not on the 10 per cent, which had been added to the 6 per cent, 'As regards the improvement of our trade, he thought there was to much handling of goods; they often passed through five sets of hands before they reached their destination, He was in favour of the' establishment of commercial museums or showrooms in the bigger cities, We ought to adapt ourselves to the views of the newer race of Chinese, who did not know what we sold, although they were Guite ready to' handle British goods. Most of them believed we could not turn out goods like those they had. Under the present system, samples had to be sent from this' country, entailing long delay, and frequently they were not what was wanted. He never was able to understand why the Government had withheld the export credits scheme from China, There was a great lack of British Commercial Attachés, and in 23 years ho had only received visit from one of them. Other Powers, especially the Uniled States, were very much better represented in this respect.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.