132 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



contractors at home, and therefore lessened the chance of Britain securing 

 foreign or Dominion work in competition with the world. Naturally, a 

 densely populated country, which for years has been providing itself with 

 all sorts of facilities for transport, health and comfort, must sooner or 

 later have been fully provided with the facilities envisaged in the categories 

 above indicated. There seems little doubt that railway building and the 

 great mass of engineering work that it involves has nearly reached 

 saturation point in these islands although there is still much to be done 

 abroad. 



The next category that interests the constructive engineer, and makes 

 for his employment, from the financial point of view is the needs of manu- 

 facturing and industrial undertakings. These comprise too many 

 categories to attempt to classify them all. It takes, however, a greater 

 faith and more enterprising spirit to raise money for this kind of work 

 than it does for anything I have mentioned before, and, as a consequence, 

 the financing of factories and ancillary works, immense chemical industries, 

 shipbuilding yards, collieries, coal handling and loading devices, private 

 harbours and gas works, with the greater financial risks that they involve 

 and the greater probability of obsolescence as well as more rapid deprecia- 

 tion, requires higher rates of interest and provision of larger sinking funds 

 to procure the necessary money. 



One could enlarge on these lines, but I would prefer to deal with the 

 questions of finance and economics connected with large civil engineering 

 enterprises abroad and mostly undertaken for foreign governments. 

 These are generally guaranteed financially by such governments and/or 

 secured on monopolies under their control, and the effect upon those 

 who act as financiers and contractors in connection with them needs 

 careful consideration. 



After the security has been provided and the finance arranged for, the 

 contractor may possibly have to take his payments in scrip. Estimates 

 for foreign work involve questions of exchange, values of local untrained 

 labour and its efficiency in countries abroad, and other matters 

 entailing considerable risk and requiring a knowledge of the science of 

 economics. 



The financing of the works of construction by the contractor may 

 involve deposited guarantees, and will also require money for piirchase 

 and transport of plant and machinery, the engagement of staff with a 

 knowledge of foreign languages, agreements as to supplies of material 

 and pro\^sion of housing. 



Many foreign governments demand large deposits in advance as 

 guarantees of good faith, and undertakings by banking institutions as to 

 the financial capacity and technical ability of those who offer for the 

 work of construction. 



Our British joint stock banking system does not lend itself to the 

 provision of such requirements and guarantees, although there is some 

 welcome evidence that this may be altered shortly, as intimated recently 

 in the press. 



Foreign contractors, on the other hand, do not have these difficulties 

 to face to the same extent. The German, French and American banking 

 houses especially have entered into this sort of business for years, and no 



