PORT ECONOMICS
of the commerce of a port. Another source of inflation is
the inclusion in the return of tonnage appertaining to small
outlying ports, within the main port Customs district.

3. Next, we come to tonnage of goods discharged, or
handled in and out. At first sight this would seem to be
an excellent standard of comparison. But it must be
pointed out that goods vary very considerably not only in
size, bulk and weight, but in value and utility. There is a
vast difference between the handling of a congeries of
general cargo forming the basis of staple industries serving
a wide area, and that of a single crude commodity of
relatively low value such as oil, or coal, or lumber. The
tonnage figures may be greatly inflated in the latter case,
without any due reference to the importance of the com-
merce carried on.

4. Lastly, if we take the marketable value of the produce
dealt with, we are confronted with the variations in price in
different countries or localities, as well as those secular
changes which arise from time to time—as in the years
immediately succeeding the Great War, when prices went
up rapidly and enormously. Apart from this, there are
articles, such as precious stones, ostrich feathers, carpets
and Oriental goods of various kinds, the value of which is
out of all proportion to their intrinsic influence on the trade
of a port.

In fact, we are driven to the conclusion that there is no
absolute standard of comparison between ports, owing to
the variations in trade and shipping conditions. One
port may be a great coaling port and another a great
timber port, with little or no additional commerce in
either case, and among those which cater for manufactured
goods and materials for industry, there are grades and
distinctions in importance which can only be expressed
in very general terms.

With these preliminary notes we will pass on to the
review of a selection of ports, chosen in some cases as much
for their interest as for their relative importance.

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