facture which necessitates a slower running
of machinery than is usual in Lancashire.

Besides the indent business there is, of course, purely merchant
business by Manchester exporters, who buy on their own initiative at
what they consider to be opportune times or on recommendations from
their houses or correspondents abroad. In the Indian trade, especially
in the Calcutta trade, a large proportion of the total amount is done by
a few houses who buy in this way, and there is some difference of
opinion as to whether the method, which had fallen out of fashion, may
not further develop. It is more speculative than the indent business,
but the dealing with large quantities which it involves gives the
opportunity to buy very cheaply. A good many firms venture occasionally
to buy in anticipation of their customers' needs, especially when they
expect a rising market. During the great trade "boom" of 1905 there was
a good deal of buying by exporters in advance of their indents because
manufacturers continued to contract engagements which threatened to
exclude dilatory buyers. On the whole, however, what may be called the
speculative centre of gravity of Great Britain's export business in
cotton goods is not in Manchester but abroad.

The terms on which business is conducted are various even in a single
market, and it is sometimes a reproach that British firms are
old-fashioned in their reluctance to give credit. The so-called
enterprising methods of some German traders are, however, condemned by
many experienced English traders, and it is said that in China, for
instance, the seeming successes of the newcomers are delusive. The
Tientsin developments of German business on credit terms are said to
have proved unsatisfactory, and heavy losses were suffered in Hong-Kong
some years ago by merchants who endeavoured to initiate a bolder system
of trading. The very common complaint of British consuls that British
firms neglect to send out travellers may have some foundation, but a
commercial house naturally follows the line of least resistance to the
development of its trade, and cannot be expected to work remote and
barren ground when better opportunities are near at hand. On the whole
it appears that the British cotton trade continues to increase to a
satisfactory degree in fancy and special goods, which require for their
production a comparatively high degree of technical skill, and are more
lucrative than some of the simpler produ