GERMAN TRADE IN CHINA.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXXI, 23 February 1916, Page 3

GERMAN TRADE IN CHINA.

The principal effect of the war upon Chinese commerce has been the prompt collapse-of German trade in the country to the Blue Book containing the diplomatic and Consular reports for 1914). Consul after Consul i repeats the same story. The Germans ; in China acted as they did everywhere ■ t else. They were prepared to accept , long credits and to give their customj ers every possible advantage over their ; competitors. They quoted prices' for i delivery on the spot, so that their purI chasers did not have to trouble about j transport. They had agents every- ] where, even where, as in Wuchow, "the j vagaries of the local currency reduced i most transactions to the nature of a ' gamble on the exchange." The Conj sul for the Changsha district explains j at length the differences between Brit- ] ish and German methods. Sometimes, Ihe thinks, the super iority of the lati ter-, where it exists, is due to differ-1 ' ences of economic organisation rather I I than to any lack of enterprise on our part. German engineering works, for example, .are often Avilling to let their "surplus stock" go cheap, in order to secure continuity of production. The Chinese purchasers of this "surplus stock" have then "to pay heavily for accessories or fittings, which, being specially adapted to the plant sold to them, have to be obtained from the same or affiliated manufacturers, whereby the latter make excellent profits." German pertinacity, again, succeeded in overcoming "native prejudices, vested interests, and the greed of power of the Chinese gentry," and so enabled the vast mineral resources of Hunan to be opened up. "British enterprise has had practically nothing to do with it." On the other hand, our" Consuls are agreed that German methods do not always make for success. In Tsinan, for example, German merchants have occupied palatial premises in order "to impress the Chinese with a sense of their grandeur," but profits have been extremely small, while the Briton has done well with "very humble Quarters." Elsewhere in these reports we hear of heavy German losses. There is a pleasant story from Tsinan which bears on this point. "The only foreign bank in Tsinan is the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank, but it is said that it has never made enough profit to pay for the imposing building in which it is housed. On the outbreak of war the manager—a Prussian officer of the reserve—adopted a policy of ' towards his British clients, with the result that the bank lost its business more rapidly than might otherwise have been the case. Its sole resource now is the funds of the Salt. Gabelie, and the branch is run at a heavy loss."