PORT ECONOMICS 
unload a ship. In undeveloped countries, such as those 
of the Orient and Africa, ships are compelled by circum- 
stances to lie at some distance off shore, and to discharge 
and receive their goods by means of surf boats and lighters, 
and this procedure is only practicable in periods of fine 
weather and calm sea. Whenever rough weather comes 
on, operations are suspended, and the vessel may even have 
to put out to sea again for the sake of its own safety. 
EMBARKING PASSENGERS AT LIVERPOOL LANDING STAGE 
Such a state of affairs is, of course, not compatible with 
the economical transaction of commercial routine. It 
entails delay and expense, waste of time and labour, 
incomplete and hastily stowed cargoes, and all the dis- 
advantages of irregular and spasmodic working. Exposure 
to such conditions, therefore, hardly justifies a claim to the 
title of Port, though there have been, and still are, cases 
in which operations unavoidably proceed in this way. 
Madras, in its earlier history, may be cited as an example. 
The Coromandel coast of India is a flat, sandy beach, 
on which the surf beats with relentless violence all the 
year round. Up to the closing quarter of last century,