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,