BRITISH TRADE WITH RUSSIA.*
TEE author of The New Russia is at once an enthusiast and a man of business ; and his book shows him in both characters. It is partly the record of a tour which he and his wife made last year, the result of which was to convince hint that Russia "will continue to astonish the British public with its virility and the purity of its national ambitions." But he is equally impressed with the vastness of its commercial resources, and in the present notice we shall deal chiefly with the chapters devoted to this subject, one of them treating of "The Future of the Russian North" and the other of Siberia. Mr. Lethbridge is amazed at British ignorance of a country possessing such wonderful natural resources. The average merchant "is more ready to deal with a South American Republic like Guatemala, and is more earnest in his efforts to cater for the needs of the inhabitants of that republic, than to attempt to understand the wants of Russia's millions and the requirements of a land covering one-seventh of the entire surface of the globe." Distance and ignorance have combined probably to bring about thin strange inconsistency. It is easier to send goods to South America than to the White Sea, and the "huge forest-clad plain" to the north of the fifty-eighth parallel of latitude is thought of even by many Russians "as a land of frost-bound swamp, stunted vegetation, and a starved population." Mr. Lethbridge gives a very different picture. The winters are cold but they are healthy, and the summers, except for the mosquitoes, are delightful. The country is more attractive than Eastern Canada, and it has a less extreme climate. Besides its wealth in timber, it is rich in minerals and oiL "Look at the places you English go to in search of gold. Why a trip to the Fetchers River is nothing • Eto Yes Rum, By Al. Lethbridge. Loudon and Boon. [Ms. anti of a journey compared to the Klondyke, and does not take half the time." This was the testimony of a tog-boat owner whom Mr. Lethbridge met, though it must be read with the qualification that the speaker himself had a mining-claim on the Petchora, of the value of which he thought so highly that he had refused all the offers made for it Platinum has also been found there; and on the 17chta, a tributary of the Petchora, it was observed many years ago that the water of the river did not freeze even in the hardest winter. The explanation is now known. The warmth that keeps off the frost is due to the presence of petroleum. Although four wells have now been sunk and "the productivity of two of them amounts to one ton per diem," the prospecting hitherto has been very casual. Still, some claims have been staked out, and this very month we learn that the Council of Ministers have sanctioned an expenditure of £1,700,000 for the construction of a railway which will run across the Kola Peninsula and connect the Arctic Ocean with the Russian railway system. It is to be hoped that as regards both the gold on the Petchora and the oil on the 'Nitta, the Russian Government will take the work of development into their own hands. To reproduce Klondyke in Northern Russia would be to turn what may. be a great opportunity to the worst possible account.
Of Sibgria Mr. Lethbridge does not tell us very much. He is too busy with describing the openings for British enterprise which this vast country presents in every direction to have time to spare for the huge export trade which is awaiting better means of transport. We hear generally of the vast wheat crop of Siberia, and of an annual export of hotter from Omsk which far exceeds ten thousand tons. But the burden of his story is the chance that the destruction of the German trade will give to Great Britain, if only her traders choose to make use of it. Down to the opening of the war Germany pursued her commercial campaign with the same completeness that marked her military preparations. Great Britain, so far as her Government is concerned, has left it to private enterprise to compete with an immense organization which commands official aid of all kinds whenever it can be usefully invoked. The result of the two methods is seen in the following figures. The total value of the imports from Great Britain to Russia was 139,300,000 roubles, of those from Germany 519,100,000. In some particular imports the contrast is still more startling. In clothing and kindred articles the English imports were 2 per cent., the German 781 per cent.; in scientific apparatus the English were again 2 per cent., the German 88 per cent.; in sheet-iron goods 3.3 per cent., against 81.4 per cent.; in iron and steel goods, 10 per cent., against 771 per cent. It must be admitted, however, that English traders have no real claim to State help, since they have done nothing or next to nothing to help themselves. For example, they have been told again and again that if they wish to get Russian custom they must describe their goods in a language understood by the merchants whose orders they wish to obtain. Yet ninety per cent, of the catalogues sent to the British Consuls in Russia are still printed in English and give only English measure- ments, weights, and prices. So long as Germany commanded the lion's share of Russian trade, this indifference on the part of Englishmen was intelligible, though unwise. But now that Germany is shut out from the Russian market, to neglect the opportunity given by the war would argue extraordinary indifference alike to their own interest and to that of their country. "One of the strongest underlying features of the Russsan character," says Mr. Lethbridge, "is senti- ment. . . A Russian would rather pay a higher price and buy English goods in preference to German, not neces- sarily because he thinks they are better, but because his impulse is to support those he likes against those he dislikes." There could hardly be a better foundation on which to build up a very large trade between the two conntries. But senti- ment will not do this by itself. British traders must either master the Russian language or employ Russian clerks for this part of their business. Mr. Lethbridge thinks that the difficulty of learning Russian has been much exaggerated. Men anxious to qualify as Russian interpreters in the Army or Navy are seconded for one year to study the language in the country. If this is enough to enable a man to interpret conversations not limited to any one subject, a shorter time might be enough to learn the vocabulary of a single trade. Atpresent, it appears, the University of Liverpool is the only one in which Russian can be properly learnt. If the
commercial value of its study were once recognized, every one of the newer Universities and the best secondary schools could be trusted to provide similar opportunities. There is another obstacle, however, to placing the trade between the two countries on a proper footing to which we are inclined to think that Mr. Lethbridge gives hardly enough importance. Alike in the Russian North and in Siberia all the improved com- munications to which be looks forward have their end at Archangel, and for seven months out of the twelve Archangel is closed to navigation. This at least has been the case hitherto. In 1914-15, indeed, these seven months were reduced to five by the introduction of powerful ice.breakers. But Mr. Lethbridge frankly says that, owing to the extraordinary mildness of the last winter, it would be "moat unwise to count upon a continuance of such exceptional conditions." We have spoken only of one part of this very interesting book. But the author's account of his own journeys well deserves reading, and it is illustrated by a series of excellent photographs which give a vivid picture of Russian scenery.
Previous page
