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32 BRITONS
GERMANS IN CHINA
underhand, or that they compared un- favourably with those employed by British. merchants. The writer was rather astonished at some sharp practice revealed in connection with the Insurance business carried on as a side line by one of the firms he assisted in liquidating, but the matter was possibly strict- ly legal, and in its very audacity was almost humorous. It may also be remarked that the trick referred to was exploited at the expense of German Insurance Companies. In another case a liquidator was surprised to find that a certain contract for some steelwork had been obtained by a German firm because a secret and quite illegal com- mission had been given to a Chinaman who had no business to receive it. As the liquidator was himself a merchant, and had tendered unsuccessfully for the same con- tract, his feelings can be imagined.
It would be possible to recite many
į
BRITONS V. GERMANS IN CHINA 33
other little incidents of a similar nature, but one feels the time might be better employed by overhauling our own methods a bit, and making sure that there are no beams in our own eyes in this respect.
There has been much impatience on the part of the public at the delay in con- cluding the liquidations. Questions have been asked in Parliament on the subject, and the commercial public has quite naturally felt that there was a great danger of the war ending before they were com- pleted, with the result that the Germans would immediately come back to their desks, and renew their dog in-the-manger efforts to undermine our influence out here. This would have actually been the case if the war had not lasted so long. (nemies could have come back and would
have found their busineses had been carried on as usual, their trade-marks kept alive by
Our