SOME TYPICAL PORTS

LONDON

Taking instances in this country first, London naturally
claims the chief place. Politically, socially, historically,
and commercially, it is facile princeps. It is the oldest
port of any importance in the British Isles, dating back
to the time of the Roman Empire, probably, at least, to
the generation of Julius Casar.! Its trade developed as
time went on, and in the Middle Ages it had attained a
commanding position in European commerce, partly by
reason of its association with the Hanseatic League, the
merchant members of which had a dep6t in London for
their produce. The formation of a number of special
trading companies in the City during the reign of Elizabeth
gave a considerable impetus to the development of the
port. The most important of these companies was the
East India Company, to which we owe our Empire in
India. Prior to the constitution of the present port
authority, which came into existence in 1909, there were
several independent dock companies, which, together with
the Thames Conservancy and Trinity House, exercised a
divided control over the port, and the grave disadvantages
of this system were evidenced by the public outcry for
unification.

The trade of London, as a port, is principally in com-
modities to supply the needs and satisfy the tastes of the
seven million inhabitants of the metropolis and of some
additional millions in the adjacent region, but there are a
certain number of imports which come to London, not for
local consumption, but because the City is a great world
market with far-reaching financial, banking, and insurance
interests. The principal commodities imported are wool,
grain, timber, refrigerated meat, provisions (including
tea, coffee, sugar, dairy produce, etc.), wines, spirits,
tobacco, rubber, fruit, tallow, paper and Oriental goods
(carpets, curios, etc). The annual value of these imports
is somewhere between 400 and 450 million pounds sterling.

1 Vide History of the Port of London, by Sir J. G. Broodbank.

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