324

Modern Business Geography

from being either large producers or large consumers. Those continents
 are to a large degree the sources of food products, among which
the most characteristic types come from plantations. Asia and Australia
 are great sources of raw materials. Their importance in this
respect is likely to increase for a long time. Asia supplies relatively
little food to other continents because her own dense population requires
 so much, but as a source of raw materials for manufacturing her
importance is rapidly growing.

19. Suppose that a man in Sydney, Australia, decides to invest his money in
manufacturing. Would you advise him to start a factory for manufacturing
 cotton cloth? Why, or why not? Where would he get his raw
materials? Where would he get his machinery? For what kind of cotton
goods would he find a strong local demand? With what foreign manufacturers
 would he find himself in competition? Would he need skilled
or unskilled labor? Could he obtain labor easily?
Would he find it more profitable, or less, to start a shoe factory? Where
would he get his materials; his machinery? What kind of labor would
he employ ?
Suppose that a Chinese company is formed to engage in the mining of
iron in northern China. Where would the company order its machinery ?
Could any of it be manufactured in China? What transportation problems
 would be met? What labor could be obtained ?
Suppose that the manager of a cotton factory in Kobe finds his supply of
raw cotton running short. To what cities may he cable to see if he
can procure a large quantity at a satisfactory price?

30.

31.

2.