ABSTRACT
The opportunities which the war provided for the Japanese industries and shipping were demonstrated by the size of the export surplus. India’s trade on the whole suffered and did not recover its pre-war volume until 1927-28. At the same time the development of Indian industry was encouraged by the absence of foreign com petition in the domestic market. Nevertheless, full advantage could not be taken of this state of affairs because India depended too much for plant and machinery on imports from abroad. Japan and the United States both seized the opportunity of trade with India, and Japan in particular obtained a hold over the market for piece-goods from which Lancashire has never really recovered. In China, notwithstanding political difficulties, Japanese ex porters enjoyed a monopoly, although by stimulating the establishment of Chinese cotton mills and other factories the war had the effect of developing Shanghai and to a lesser extent Tientsin as industrial centres.
