£81
184
}
into the interior to purchase produce on the spot.
This is probably due to two circumstances, firstly the comparative unimportance of sny single article of export except Silk, which is bought and sold on old and well
established lines and in which German firms have never
predominated. It is doubtful whether the trade would stand the large expenditure incurred and whether the economies effected by eliminating certain middlemen
would be at all considerable. In the second place
the city of Canton is itself the collecting centre for
most of the produce. Hankow, on the other hand, is surrounded by a ring of subsidiary collecting centres, such es stations on the Kin Han Railway, Laohokou, Ichang
Changteh and so forth, where cargo is transhipped or
the mode of transport is otherwise changed. There is
nothing of the kind at Canton, and any system of collect- ing produce up country would therefore have to be conducted in much greater detail than is necessary at Henkow.
NIN