GERMAN ENTERPRISE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 336, 11 March 1910, Page 3

GERMAN ENTERPRISE.

GREAT ACTIVITY TX THE NEAR KAS.T. London, January 20. A special representative or the Pall Mall Gazette, who has just concluded a tour in Egypt has, in the course of his travels, come across remarkable evidence of (..'email activity in the Near East. At the port of Trieste, he write®, by arrangement with Austria, no less than six mil l.ons are being spent in the development of the docks. Not only is the present harbor being improved by spacious landing stages and a thorough system of railways and transporters, but an ent'rely new harbor is* to be created on the eastern side of thecitv, wllich will give inestimably better anchorage than a' present during the prevalence of gales. The town front at Trieste facing the harbor is bein<r developed on equally spacious lines. A magnificent Rathaus has been erected, while the ranges of Government offices more recently added are equally spacious and imposing. Round the harbor immense blocks of wpll-equipped warehouses are beirg rapidly completed, and all the arrangements for handling a big trade are obvious. Owing to the export traffic being divided between Austrian and German manufactures, it is. of course, difficult, to estimate +hf growth and relative proportion of either country's trade, but the amount of business poin<r en is incontestable proof of growth. Tt is evident that Trieste wi'l rapidly become one of the most important if not the larsrest port in the Mediterranean, and go far to command at tin distant date the trade in the Near East, as wtell as, through the Suez Canal. immense prospects of trade with India and China. Onlv a- few months n?o the present wn'ter spent some time in enquiring as to the decay of industries along our own river Thames, and the' contrast of 'foreign prosperity was a striking obieet lesson.

IMPROVEMENTS EN ROUTE TO EGYPT. A tremendous change is promised in •the trade journey between London and Alexandria. Thanks to Continental Enterprise the journey will he reduced from s'/> to 3 days onlv. The London connections with the Continental sys.tems will he threefold—by way of Dover, Queensborough and Harwich. Travelling by through train by way of Cologne, Wiesbaden, Frankfort, and Munich, the English traveller • will be able to reach Trieste in twenty-four hours, thanks to a new section of railway now being constructed between Salzburg and Bad-Oastein. There will also be a direct line to Innsbruck from Trieste, and the raihvay journey from London will be shortened some twelve or fourteen hours. Another valuable saving of time .•■will be effected at the Custom House At present the access through Switzerland means a delay or five or six hours, /jiving to useless and annoying inspection. This will be abolished.

Even greater charges and improvements are t) be made in the sea trip. The Austrian Lloyd Steamship Company are constructing two new twin-screw ■boats of double the pace of their present steame -s. These will accomplish in 52 hours a journey which now takes ,3y 2 day?. A rare advantage of the sea trip from Trieste to Alexandra is that it is virtually a "smooth water" passage, the sheltered waters of the Adri-

atic being a welcome change for the Bay of Biscap. while the interest of the voyage is heightened by the famous shores —the classic islands of Greece and Crete adding: to the pleasure of the cruise.

• During my stay at Trieste I was so fortunate as to meet the Secretary to the Chinese Embassy which has Tecently been visiting Europe. On arrival I noticed an .Austrian general in attendance upon two visitors from the Celestial Empire, whose costume of purple and black was unusually striking. In the course of an interview with the courteous Secretaiy to the Embassy, which consisted of an uncle of the Emperor and a suite of seventeen officers. I was told they were travelling to Vienna the following day. and their visit to Berlin has since been chronicled in all the journals. Unfortunately <a visit to London was not a. part of the programme. The Embassy is engaged in an enquirv into the status of the Continental navies; Germany is, no doubt, wiselv cultivating friendly relations with both political and business objects in view.

THE GERMAN INVASION OF EGYPT.

The activity of Germany, however, is equally as great in the Near East as in the Far. In Egypt, ctlriously enough, the majority of visitors are German — probably more than the English and American combined. Many are not merely there for pleasure; Germany is there for business. It is melancholy, but true, that after spending so many millions ns England has; done on Egypt and the Soudan, we are allowing Germany to reap the business fruit. From Syria, from Asia Minor and Constantinople' and from the Cape, one hears the same story; and in Egypt German business houses in Alexandria and Cairo, biit in the cotton market German influence is rapidly becoming an important factor. In finance, for example, the German banks are making considerable advances to cotton-growers in all directions, and her influence in Egyptian trade must rapidly become important. It would be a singular position if Lancashire in the 'future found the control of the Egyptian market had passed into other hands. _ A more cheerful feature in one s travel notes was to hear of the remarkable popularity of England and our customs in Australia. At Vienna the study or English is all the fashion —English sport the game of "Bridge." the English pipe, English literature, English music One of the pleasantest of travelling companions was a medical professor from Vienna whose admiration 01 our tmrienic method and sanitary administration generallv was great More agreeable' still, ho ridiculed the "1?*. that there shmil.l he anv risk of war liotwre-i England and Gormnnv—the Optwav per.plo, he was sure, had no wish for it.