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Confusion and a complete absence of co-operation or co-

ordination appears to prevail as between the various Chinese

Government trading organisations, from the producing areas in

the interior, through the Central Government offices, down to

their local representatives in Hongkong. It would seem that a

few theorists in office are vainly trying to reduce to order (on

paper) the chaos created by local magnates, and by bureaucratic

and/or family interests, who have grabbed and are trying to

control the principal export commodities the exploitation of

which appears to be profitable. The numerous offices in Hongkong

of these various Chinese Government trading organisations are

crammed to overflowing with employees but it is often a difficult

matter to get into touch with the man in charge, who when found

not infrequently turns out to be a mere titular head knowing

nothing about the matter in hand and holding the post for family

reasons or for some special purpose unconnected with the general

work of his office. The following notes on a number of export

commodities illustrate the confusion which prevails.

Woodoil is under the control of the Foreign Trade Commission

of the Ministry of Finance working in conjunction with the

Central Trust, a branch of the Central Bank of China which is

also under the Ministry of Finance, but it obtains supplies in

the interior from the Kwangsi Syndicate, a semi-independent

provincial organisation, and from the China Vegetable Oil Cor-

poration, which is under the Ministry of Economics. The total

supply, which is nominally controlled by the Foreign Trade

Commission, is allocated to the United States as security, but

in practice considerable quantities of oil are smuggled out of

China from districts which are still under Chinese control into

Hongkong where it is dealt in without restraint by the Corporation

as well as by the export merchant firms. The export of wolfram

ore is nominally under the control of the National Resources

Commission of the National Government and all ore from the

provinces of Kiangsi, Kwangtung and Hunan (except such as the

/ Chinese

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