Mr, G. W. Sewell, the representative in Hongkong of the Federation of the British Industries who is at present in England, reports that continued civil strife and mi government have killed all hope of speedy trade recovery in China. The steady drop in silver has dur-jing the past nine months increased tthe cost of import goods into IChina by 37% per cent, and whereas this would normally be offset to a gret extent by increased exports, China) has been steadily losing her great markets for tea, silk, wood-oil, ete.
As regards British trade with China, Mr. Sewell declares that in the heavy trades, consisting of Government stores, railway and har-hour plant and equipment, structural steel, machinery and engineering stores, Britain is on quite firm basis, more especially for} structural steel, and that the demand for these lines will continue to ex-proportion to the general country. In cot ton and woollen piece goods, the cheaper qualities of metal and hardware, aluminium ware, soft goods, etc, we are however, losing a eer-tain amount of business to Continental competitors as the Chinese now regard price as the paramount. factor irrespective of quality—a fact that has been fully demonstrate ed of recent years by the passing the bulk of the trade in cotton piece goods from Lancashire to have had our political troubles in China," Mx. Sewell continues, "as elsewhere in the world, but Ido not think our competitors Ihave scored to any extent because of anti-British propaganda, Our name still stands high in the Far East for quality, integrity and character. There is less chance of claims avising in respect of goods bought from England than from any other country, Chinese always expect goods exactly according to} ample, and any deviation in this respect gives to exorbitant} claims. Our foreign competitors cannot improve on our export machinery, nor can they teach us anything regarding methods of distribution, "If the British manufacturer is! in a position to quote a competitive price, he will invariably get the Dusiness, as we are more favourably placed in (China than any other nation. The problem to be solved 4s therefore one of production rather than of marketing, but a great deal can be done by the British manufacturer taking a personal interest in the market and retaining an interest in his goods until they reach the consumer."
The F.BI. representative fers to the recent remarkable of national sentiment in China and the increasing interest in foreign affairs, and declares himself a be-Hover in the essential fair-minded. ness and common sense of the Chinese, "It cannot be denied that there are dangers and dificult ahead," he concluded, "but I decline to believe that these will be suffi cient to prevent a steady morea: in our trade with China, The Chinese standard of living is rising steadily in spite of internal warfare, and there is a prosperous future for those, who are flexible enough to adapt themselves to altered cire stances and to'create new channels jin which the growing stream of trade can flow, China is far from being industraiized, and it will be years before a serious tariff wall jean be erected; she is, in fact, practically the only country left which could take everything possible from us, given a period of settled government."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.