SOME TYPICAL PORTS I

The remarkable prominence of the wool trade of

London has already been alluded to in Chapter IX. It
may be added that as a consequence of the war, owing
to the accumulation of large stocks in the Colonies,
attempts were made, by holding auction sales in Liverpool,
Hull, and elsewhere, to divert the trade from its normal
pre-war centre. A certain measure of success attended
the step, in that consignments of wool continue to be sent
to other ports, but London still contrives to maintain a
powerful hold on the importation of wool. The same
remarks apply very largely to tea, in the sale of which
the London tea auction rooms, with their attendant and
preparatory storage, sampling and blending facilities, had
practically a monopoly. The explanation is that both
wool- and tea-buying are highly specialized businesses,
necessitating knowledge of a very superior kind possessed
by a relatively few experts, who prefer to concentrate
their attention on a market of international character,
with merchants and banks conveniently at hand, rather
than to diversify the arena of their operations.

A curious and interesting feature about port traffic
in London is that it is largely water-borne. London is
essentially a barge port. Between 80 and go per cent of
the goods which come into the docks of London are either
passed directly ex-ship overside or reloaded into barges
from the quays for transmission to warehouses and storage
depots up river. The lighterage industry of the port is
not only important but powerful. It has succeeded in
maintaining its acquired right of passing in and out of
the docks without payment of charges of any kind. This
privilege is preserved in the Act of Parliament constituting
the present port authority. Apart from this important
barge traffic, most of the docks have rail connections with
the trunk lines of the country, of which full use is made.

The docks are an important feature of the port and
provide 705 acres of water area with 30 miles of quayage.
They have been constructed at various dates since the

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