662
CHINA
under exemption certificates protecting them from all further taxation to any one of 17 Manchurian trade marts, stretching as far north as Hailar and Aigun. At Shanghai the volume of net trade was reduced from Hk. Tls. 168,736,329 in 1906 to Hk. Tls. 137,058,239 in 1907, or 19 per cent. The excess of imports of foreign goods over re-exports, which in 1906 was Hk. Tls. 74,972,150 and in 1905 was Hk. Tis. 92,207,173, fell back in 1907 to little more than the average of the five years preceeding, with a total of Hk. Tls. 46 328,982. Exports declined from Hk. Tls. 78,996,881 in 1906 to Hk. Tls. 73,737,546. In the net trade of all ports there was a rise in net foreign imports. from Hk. Tls. 414,184,061 in 1906 to Hk. Tls. 422,838,531 in 1907. Net native imports at all ports declined from Hk. Tls. 158,276,129 to Hk. Tls. 137,552,030, The entire exports, including in their sum the total of native imports, increased from Hk. Tls. 370,171,996 to Hk. Tls. 391,050,384.
Foreign Trade.-The net value of the foreign trade was Hk. Tls. 680,782,066,. showing an increase of 5.27 per cent. as compared with the total of Hk. Tls. 646,726,821
in 1906.
"Imports-The net value of imports, that is, of direct imports less re-exports abroad, was Hk. Tls. 416,401,369, the increase over the value in 1906 being Hk. Tls. 6,131.287. To explain a total so inconsistent with the undoubtedly depressed condition of trade in general, and with the large decrease in import duties, reference must be made to those items in the list which may be termed exceptional and which do not pay duty. The three items of flour, rice, and railway plant fulfil at once both conditions. The first two, for which the agricultural failures of 1906 and the high prices of foodstuffs created an opening, arrived in quantities exceeding the importations of the previous year by the value of Hk. Tls. 30,356,000, and the increase in the value of railway plant imported was Hk. Tls. 1,364,822, the combined total increase under these three heads being Hk. Tls. 31,720,822. Reduced by the deductions of this sum, the total for the year is better understood, and what may be called the ordinary import trade- is found to have amounted to about Hk. Tls. 385,000,000. The consumption of foreign opium has increased from 54,117 piculs in 1906 to 54,584 piculs. The northern ports took only 535 piculs, or little more than half their 1906 consumption. Shanghai took 214 piculs less, and the southern ports 941 piculs less; but the consumption of the ports on the Yangtze and in Chekiang increased by 2,094 piculs. The quantities of native opium passing down river through the Native and Foreign Customs at Ichang continued to increase, as the following figures show:-
1902.
1903. 24,888
1904. 36,856
1905. 36,311
1906. 41,887
1907. 47,670
Piculs...22,098 Taken together with the increased arrivals of foreign opium in the Yangtze, these figures, so far as they go, do not indicate that the anti-opium measures have as yet borne fruit in diminished consumption. But obscurity surrounds the production and movements of the native drug and prevents any reliable conclusion being formed as to the actual progress made in this direction. Vigorous and practical steps, the effects of which will sooner or later appear, have been very generally taken to enforce the Edict. Meanwhile, among the immediate effects of the reforming measures may well have been a sudden desire on the part of wealthy smokers to lay in supplies, against a day when it may be more difficult to do so, and a corresponding eagerness on the part of holders to dispose of their stocks even at low prices. So far as imports are concerned, it is in cotton goods only that depression is clearly visible. These manu- factures have fallen in total value from Hk. Tls. 181,452,953 in 1905 and Hk. Tls. 152,727,845 in 1906 to Hk. Tls. 118,915,923 in 1907. In 1905 they amounted to 40 per cent. of all imports, in 1906 to 37 per cent, and in 1907 to 27 per cent. And among cotton goods the plain descriptions, together with cotton yarn, bear the brunt of the decrease. Plain shirtings, sheetings, T-cloths, drills, and jeans give a total of 9,786,025 pieces, as compared with 20,247,223 pieces in 1906 and 27,724,980 pieces in 1905. Further analysis shows that by far the greater part of the decrease fell upon goods of American origin, of which the chief were sheetings and drills, and in which previous over-importation was most marked. The importations of the principal makes of plain goods are comparatively shown as follows:-
1904.
Great Britain, pieces ...8,109,020
American
Japanese
Indian
"5
...3,703,548
607,313 183,461
""
1905. 13,548,025
12,566,093
780,580
650.636
1906. 10,785,227
8,544,165
733,436
85,003
1907. 8,224,951
578,647
840,401
67,905
The net import of American piece goods in 1907 (578,647 pieces) was nearly equalled by the quantity re-exported abroad (519,598 pieces).
Fancy cottons, which include