As regards England, in 1914 £2,676,000 worth of goods were exported to Austria-Hungary, the greater part of which again was destined for Bohemia, the chief articles being printing and agricultural machines and textile manufactures. England will after the war find a good market in Bohemia, and valuable assistants in Czech banks and business men in the economic competition against the Germans in the Near East, since the Czechs boycotted German goods even before the war. Prague is a railway centre of European importance, being situated just midway between the Adriatic and the Baltic Sea. An agreement with her neighbours (Poland, Yugoslavia and Rumania) and the League of Nations arrangement would secure her an outlet to the sea by means of international railways, while the Elbe and Danube would also form important trade routes. Bohemia would become an intermediary between the Baltic and Adriatic as well as between East and West.

Also the future relations of Bohemia with the British colonies are not without importance. More than half the trade of Austria with the British colonies was transacted by the Czechs, and Austria-Hungary exported to British colonies £3,500,000 and imported from them £10,500,000 worth of goods annually.

5. One of the most important reasons why the Czecho-Slovaks, when independent, will be able to render such valuable services to the Allies, is the high degree of their civilisation. Despite all efforts of the Austrian Government to the contrary, the Czechs have nevertheless been able to attain a high standard of education, and they also excel in literature, music and the arts.

The Czechs are not only the most advanced of all Slavs, but they are even the most advanced of all nations of Austria-Hungary. In Austria as a whole 6.7 per cent. of the children do not attend school; in Bohemia only 1-1/2 per cent. The standard of education of the Czechs compares with that of the Austrian-Germans and Magyars, according to the Monatschrift für Statistik of 1913, as follows:

Czechs. Austrian Magyars.

Germans.

Persons knowing how to write

and read 95-1/2% 92% 40%

Persons knowing how to read

only 3% 1% 4%