IN CHINA AND JAPAN

North Canterbury Gazette, Volume 6, Issue 65, 6 April 1937, Page 5

IN CHINA AND JAPAN

Mr H. Ellen Returns After Business Tour VARIED IMPRESSIONS Ships, meals, business methods—factories, scenery, jade, lacquer, neAvspapers—these are some of the headings under AA-hich Mr H. Ellen might list A r aried impressions of a four months’ business tour of China and Japan, just completed. Ships first of all: “NeA r er again shall I traA r el on a British ship in the East,” he says. BetAveen Australia and Japan the passenger boats Avere “a disgrace to the shipping industry and the British Empire.” On the other hand German, Dutch, and Japanese serA-ice Avas real service." There Avere such minor from the ordinary as German being spoken on Japanese ships, English on German ships, and Japanese on English ships, but these did not alter the fact that British service and accommodation Avere inferior, or his determination not again to risk such poor service as he received on British ships. As one instance only, Mr Ellen said that British passenger ships from Australia to China Avere capable of only 12 knots. Japanese freighters could do 18. And from ships to Avhere they carried him: First to China, AA'here a record of three years’ peace had just been established, Avhere crops had been unusually good, Avhere the depression Avas fast disappearing from the community horizon, and Avhere progress Avas everyAvhere the front page neAVs. His first stay in China Avas short, but, Avhen he returned from Japan, he had plenty of time to appreciate to the full the peculiar business methods practised. First you sought out the “bossman” and invited him to dinner. You fed him Avell, found that business Avas not on the menu, and, after an even-. ing spent in an exchange of courtesies, gratefully accepted his invitation to lunch. You had given him the selection of Chinese dishes. At lunch lie feted you Avith the best English foods. ■So grateful Avere you for this you invited him to dinner again, studied his palate as Avell as his appetite, and hoped that soon he Avould give you an opportunity to study his finances. But he in turn must shoAV his appreciation of the improved delights of this second entertainment, and lunch must be booked for the folloAving day. Finally, at the third dinner, if you Avere fortunate ,and had chosen Avisely and Avith experience for the menu, he Avould, perhaps, Avhen everything Avas done, invite you to his office the folloAving morning. You drove along a narroAV alley, presented your card at a door more pretentious than the surroundings Avould seem to justify, Avere ushered in, removed coat and hat, presented your card for presentation to your host, Avere ushered still further in, exchanged cards Avith the host, exchanged cards Avith his secretary, and, at last, mentioned the fact that you proposed that it might be possible for you to sell him something. After protracted negotiations a sale Avould be made—very favourably if the negotiations had been conducted Avith tact and discernment. Other Avise —no sale at all. Shanghai—polyglot city, Avith as many races and languages in one street as are scattered over the rest of the earth. Peking—the one place Mr Ellen Avould like to return to. Good climate, the real China, surroundings melloAV Avith age and tradition. And so, from the aAvakening China to the fiercely aAvakened Japan. “Japan is industrial mad.” Cities of a million or more people, all devoted to manufacturing, mainly for foreign consumption, Avere strung along his itinerary one so close to the next that dividing lines Avere difficult to see. An efficient nation Japan appeared to be to Mr Ellen, but he could see that Japan’s birth into an industrialised Avorkl had been so sudden that the country had not yet settled doAvn to groAV ordinarily. Japan had had to set so gruelling a pace to catch up on a Avorkl Avliich had a handicap of hundreds of years, used AA'hile Japan slept in antiquity. Government folloAved government, and government Avas fast becoming so expensive, labour costs Avere bound to increase so fast, that soon it seemed to him that Japan’s imports Avould necessarily be on the same economic scale as these of other manufacturing countries.

"As an example of efficiency he mentioned extraordinarily punctual trains, and passport and customs officers who travelled on the boats between Japan and China so that passengers could embark and disembark unencumbered. On the other side he pointed to paragraphs in all the newspapers, Japanese

and European: “This has been deleted.” Of armed force there Avas little evidence. He scarcely suav eight soldiers during his visit. He understood that the army Avas mainly recruited from the peasant class, and not from the industrial community Avith Avhich he had come into contact. Summary: China is stirring herself to appreciate possible prosperity; Japan is busy, restless; and British passenger boats are the AVorst in the Eastern seas.