All countries have sustained heavy losses in their Chinese business, with Japan the chief sufferer, having been practically eliminated from the trade of South and Central China. As i dicated by the table, Chinese imports fell off more heavily than did exper! both recovering somewhat! in the later months from the lowest levels teache just after the outbreak of hostilities. That the decreases. in trade were not greater was partly because of a shift ing of business through unobstructed ports, as evidenced by the figures for Hongkong- cited in the table, and partly (in the case of exports) because port stocks of some commodities were fairly heavy, permitting shipments to continue for a time not with standing disrupted communication with the interior. In the case of imports, the better movement reported in November and December seems to have been due in pa: heavier relief shipments into Shanghai and gradual arrival of goods held up in other ports pending. cessation of s1 doth tended to fall and there were w Signs as yet of sufficient orders tu redress the balance.
The cause of this cessation, said Mr. Innes, is not clearly defined and is associated w monopoly. The importation or cireumstanċes probably unique under wolframite ore (tung: base). which China the we leading producer and which is mined in t Southern provinces and shipped v Canton. has been maintained and sun. plies are likely to.be ample. Ship ments of antimony, on the other hand, anc important Chinese product mined in the Central Yangtze have practically ed of the blockade, Among cur export mineral ails. mach ace-time conditions, in thet the flow of orders for ordinary cargo hips dried up during a period of asperity in shipping. Principally a result of rearmament, prices of everything connected with ship contruction had jumped from an un-Fealthily low level to a still more unhealthy high one; even the most optimistic owner could not immedi-
ətely adjust his ideas to the startling nse, d now there is very little ducement for him to do so. vehicles and airplane better than most othe products. The destruction of larg stocks of fuel cured leaf tobace hanghai, for
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.