Shanghai of the British Econo-The presence recently - in mic Mission provided a suitable opportunity to draw the atten. tion of business men at Home to the new forms which trade in and with China is gradually taking. While retaining its place as the largest single item of British import, it is obvious that the future of the cotton piece goods trade holds out little promise of again attaining the dimensions it has reached in the past, although there may be certain' unexplored fields here which will yet be found to yield important results. The fact the British trade has maintained its value and volume is due to the fact that other classes of imports have taken a larger, share in the sum total, The obvious conclusion to be drawn from the state of offal revealed not only by statis! but equally individual inquiry is that the most must be made of the new conditions prevailing, and it is significant to note that in various cases certain partially manufactured quality of British goods have a_ver promising market here. From the point of view of labour conditions in the United King. dom this is not the best position to be achieved, but with an adaptation to a new set of circumstances, there is no doubt that further important advances in British trade may be brought about, If the present taxation policy of the Chinese Government exercises an adverse influence on this development, it may, nevertheless, be hoped that' sooner or later the advantages of a different line of thought will prevail.
Further attention to this subject is called for by the statement contained in a report Just received from Home regarding the linen trade, This report points out, that in 1930 China was second only to the United States as an importer of British Tinen,: "and China's imports showed such a striking advance that whereas in 1928 the total yards, in"1930 this had risen to Import. was 2,894,100 square
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.