ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY.

Shannon News, 7 June 1927, Page 4

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY.

W.E.A. LECTURE. At Tuesday's lecture under'W.E.A. auspices, the lecturer (Kev. J. D. McArthur) dealt with the second part of the subject of Economic Geography. In the first part, he said, Ave studied the place and value of wheat as a food —here we give time to wheat substitutes —rye,- oats; barley, rice. Eye will grow where wheat will grow andin many other places as well. Less nutritious, it is less highly esteemed. It is the grain of poorer lands and of poorer peoples. The yield is about 1500 million bushels, ninety-five per cent, of this being from and eaten in Europe. Eye is deficient in protein, but rich in sugar. Oats. —The moist climate of Scotland makes that country essentially an oat producer. The cereal is largely used as human food, but great quantities are used as horse-feed —imparting spirit and energy. It is rich in protein and fat. It cannot stand as much heat as wheat, but can thrive in wetter conditions. The Mediterranean type of climate is unsuited to this grain. is the breadstaff of the desert's edge. It grows in widely scattered regions from as far north as 150 miles beyond the Arctic circle right down to the southern part of Abyssinia. This cereal has less protein and starch, but more mineral salts than wheat. Its admixture with wheat flour was very important for Europe during the Great War. Europe grows about 1000 millions bushels —half in Eussia. U.S.A. and Japan also cultivate it largely. Eice supplies starch to hundreds of millions of non-bread escters. It is low in gluten and hence will not make., light bread. It has also less fat than Avheat and is deficient in protein.. Eice is grown in humid climates and it is considered that it requires at least half an inch of rain per day for 90 days. Where the .rainfall is less than this, irrigation must be resorted to. The monsoon winds from the Indian Ocean and Pacific blowing across the southern and eastern portions of Asia supnly the needed rains. This monsoon accounts for the fact tliat 98 per cent, of the world's rice is grown east of Suez. More than half the human race live in these regions, and, being lion-meat eaters, they find in rice flavoured with fish or curry the ideal climatic food.

TraTle Eoutes. —The lecturer illustrated his remarks by reference to a map of the world. Certain well-defined' principles surround all trade routes — varied but little. The steamers go obviously where they "are most needed — with cargoes of manufactured goods from, the great industrial centres of the world, and after unloading, reload with foodstuffs and raw materials for the industrial centres. With the possible exception of U.S.A., which grows 95 per cent, of her own food, no country keeps itself;" jso that there is a constant traffic to and fro. A group of islands such as the Canaries—insignificant in themselves —may be, because of their location, of outstanding importance to a nation. They are in the line of the main track to the old land and are convenient depots for bunker coal. The geography of position is subject to economic modifications and every new discovery of fuel changes a whole group of distance relations. The growing use of oil as a fuel, is making many changes, and if electricity ever becomes general as a propelling agent, the whole geographical outlook will have to be recast. The great manufacturing centres of

the world are at present N.W. Europe, the E. States of N. America, the Far East, and parts of Africa. The United Kingdom exports coal, and Australia, South-Africa and U.S.A. also export quantities. From these facts it is~easy to see why there are two principal points at which huge masses of ship_ping continually pass and repass. The first is the entrance to the Atlantic at a point roughly midway between Ushant and the South coast of Ireland, Here millions of tons of shipping is constantly moving. This is why the German undersea boats were located here during the war. Had they been even only a little more successful than they were the matter would have been very serious indeed. The second of the two points is from Cape Eace to Tug Island, for the greater part of American shaping is localised at that point. There are lesser points, notably Gibraltar. Suez, Aden, Colombo, Singapore, and Japan. Willi the opening of the Pana.:ia Canal another point of conceiuratk.: must be included.

("pic outward tonnage from Britain and N'.-W. Europe is scarcely a problem, being for the most part- manufactured goods. But many of these ships, after discharging in S. Africa and Australia, find difficulty in filling up for the return trip. Many are compelled to load coal as ballast, and to slip across the Indian Ocean to Colombo, etc., where they discharge coal and load raw materials, etc., for Britain. Mail and passenger services are carried on under somewhat different conditions. Harbour conditions also affect shipping. Where a shfp cannot be at the wharf until unloaded and loaded, but has to be worked according to tides, the expense makes her visit in some cases prohibitive. Certain harbours: 'invite safe entrance and handling. All of 40 feet depth at low tide are of the Ist classi —Capetown, Durban, Melbourne, Sydney, Hobart, Wellington, Auckland —these are -Ist class. The second clasp are 25-35 feet, and include East London and Port Elizabeth, Fremantle, Albany, Adelaide, Newcastle, Brisbane, and the New Zealand ports not already named. As far as New Zealand ports are concerned, ships using the Panama route are more constant visitors as the trip to Britain is lessened by about 12 to 14 day;' steaming-

Coaling Stations.—The most* important to Britain are Bombay, with great exports also of wheat, opium and cotton. Karachi, the port of the wheat producing Punjab. Calcutta —100 miles up the Hugli, a tidal river which is dangerous to negotiate. This makes this a costly harbour. Aden—"strongly fortified station of great value to Britain. Singapore, on the left of Malacca, halfway between India and China—strongly fortified. Suez and Panama—both important "short cuts" between the old world and the new. The Pacific Islands are also important and the three great nations interested—Britain, U.S.A., and Japan, watch developments here with great care. N.Z. is interested as she holds mandatory rights in certain groups. Japan is interested as she needs an outlet for surplus population. The lecturer dealt in detail with the various groups,of Islands and showed their ppsitiom .and importance to the countries interested.