How very different would have been the position if one
of Mr. Duncan Campbell's Clearing Houses had existed, and if to work it there was a Company of Merchant Venturers of the kind we propose I In that case, Mr. Duncan Campbell's friend would have said to the traders who offered him the half-million order : " All right. Come along to the Clearing House. I am not in the timber business, but my friend Mr. Jones will be delighted to do business with you, .because I know he has come out here specially to bay timber." After a little " higgling" business -would have been done. Clearly the first step is to organize companies of merchants and to assist them with the aid of their foreign colleagues to start Clearing Houses. If the Government are wise, they will give a grant or a guarantee in order to start business. Still, we are not sure that, after all, a good backing from a bank would not be the safer and better way. Government help always seems to carry with it the curse of sterility.
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