4 PORT ECONOMICS 
has no hinterland : no great population like London or 
New York; no great trading and manufacturing districts 
like Antwerp and Rotterdam; nothing to induce and 
develop goods traffic. In fact, its very position at the 
extremity of a narrow peninsula reduces its capacity for 
development in this respect, since there is so small a pro- 
portion of land area to water area in the immediate 
neighbourhood of the port. 
This is an aspect of the influence of a hinterland which 
deserves notice. Other things being equal, the greater 
the land area in the vicinity of a port, the greater the 
possibilities of trade, since it implies greater scope for the 
establishment of conditions which foster trade. A circle 
of 50 miles radius described round London as centre, 
embraces an overwhelming preponderance of land to water: 
it is nearly all land—actual and potential sites for habita- 
tions, manufactures and industries. Similar circles drawn 
round Durban and Madras enclose roughly half land and 
half water—the scope for habitable and industrial areas 
is materially reduced. Round Cherbourg, the preponder- 
ance of water area is indubitable—there is relatively very 
little land area. It is a significant fact that the great 
commercial ports of the world are not located at the 
extremities of narrow peninsulas. 
But the argument must not be pressed too far. Vast 
tracts of land which are sparsely populated and unpro- 
ductive cannot be compared in importance with much 
smaller areas which are districts of intensive industry 
and dense population. There is a much larger proportion 
of land area round Limerick than there is round Belfast, 
but the relative importance of the two ports is emphatically 
in the inverse order. Yet despite this and other modifying 
conditions, the general trend of the dictum is true; the 
importance of a port depends upon the extent of its 
hinterland. 
In concluding these remarks on the hinterland of ports, 
it should be pointed out that hinterlands may overlap 
1;