PORTS AND HARBOURS 5
and that, in its furthermost limits, a hinterland may even
be common to several ports. When this is the case, the
question of competition arises, and the port-which succeeds
in attracting the greater amount of traffic will obviously
flourish at the expense of its neighbours.

IMPORTANCE OF OVERSEAS TRADE

To an island community, such as Great Britain, the
importance of overseas trade admits of no dispute. With
its population of between forty and forty-five million
people, all requiring to be fed and clothed, and with
insufficient inland resources to produce anything like the
quantities of food and raiment necessary for so great a
multitude, it is obvious that supplies must be obtained
from abroad, and equally obvious that exports of various
kinds, coal and manufactured goods, must be sent in
return in order to maintain a rough balance of payment—
though the intricacies of modern commercial operations
are so great that it is possible that the cost of a sack of
imported grain may be defrayed from the passage money
of an emigrant from Italy to South America.

The position of Great Britain, with its numerous centres
of industry and its relatively small engagement in agricul-
tural pursuits, is a source of anxiety. There is rarely
more than six weeks supply of food available in the
country, depending, as the country does, on the regularity
of supplies from abroad. This was its vulnerable point
during the war, and its antagonists, well aware of the
fact, sought to take the fullest advantage. If the sub-
marine campaign had been successful, Great Britain,
powerful and patriotic as she is, would have been starved
into ignominious surrender. It is an obvious point for
consideration whether the storage of foodstuffs in this
country should not be materially increased to guard
against contingencies which may arise at any time, perhaps,
and even very likely, from a totally unexpected quarter.
There is ample storage accommodation available. Many

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