1096
Bar. Mean pressure Maximum Minimum
Mean temperature Mean maximum
HONGKONG
Jan. Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Year .80.159 30.132 30.055 29.958 29.863 29.764 29.738 29.755 29.824 20.082 30.103 $0.161 26 30.367 30.390 30.308 30.158 30.045 29.880 29-882 29.851 92.984 30.157 30.311 30.444 91444 .29.686 29.421 29.552 29.576 29.447 29.284 28.762 29.88 28.870 29.089 29.575 29.757 23 761 59.7 67.7 62.2 69.9 76.6 80.7 81.6 81.0 80.4 76.2 09.2 62.4 71.5 64.1 61.7 06.4 74.5 81.2 85.2 86.2 86.0 85.3 80.7 74.3 67.5 761 76.6 72.5 65.3 58.3 87.9 93.8 85.6 81.9 94.0
Mean minimum
Maximum
56.0 54.5 58.9 66.7 73.5 77.4 78.0 77.3 79.2 79.0 82.1 88.6 91.5 93.6 04.0
92.9
94.0
Minimum
32.0
40.3
45.9
55.6
61.1
69.2 721
71.6
65.6
Mean daily range
8.1
7.2
7.4
7.7
7.7
7.8 8.2
8.7
8.7
8.3 9.0 9.2
60.8 50.6 40.7 32.0
Mean humidity
74
79
84
85
83
83
83
83
77
71
65
8.2 64 87
Mean rain
1.545
2.091
2.991
5.980 13.159 16.496 14.210 13.482
8.833
Maximum in 24 hours
3.920
2.185
3.580
Mean max. in 24 hours
0.688
0.710
1.160
Maximum in 1 hour
0.510
0.525
1.570
2 420
5.210 20.495 12.630 13.480 2.256 4.844 4.438 3.973
3.400
Mean max. in 1 hour
0.188
0.249
0.484
+
Hours of rain
65
94
87
1.018 8S
1,406 94
1.369 96
6.555 3.257 2.550 3.480 2.140 1.333 1.187 79 73
5.794 5.855 10.190
1.302 0985 86.867
5.876 01.70 20.456
2.951 2 743
0.843 0.522 8.649
1,620 0.500 3.480
1.004 57
44
+
Wind direction Wind velocity mean Maximum
Hours of sunshine
14.9 13.5 12.5 11.2
1.720 1.650
0.702 0.285 0.165 2.11
2rt 34 838
E15°N E14°N E8°N E2°N E11'S $39°E S43°E $33°E E15°N 21°N E29°N E27°N E38 9.6 12.2 E 14.7 13.8 12.7 13.4
66
86
85 49 63 198 110.7 152.1 155.4 197.6 197.2 200,1 214,5 196.2 189,7 190.4
136.7
14.4 15.0 46 53 77.7
16 5 49 79.5
46
42
49 108
It has been remarked that the meteorological returns indicate a progressive change in the climatic conditions generally of the Colony. The average yearly rainfall for the ten years ended 1904 was 20 inches less than the average for the immediately preceding decade.
TRADE
Hongkong is a free port, and there is no complete official return of the imports and exports compiled, but the value of its trade is estimated at about £50,000,000 per annum. During the year 1907 the following tonnage entered and cleared :----
CLEAREB Vessels. Tons.
NATIONALITY
ENTERED
CLEARED
NATIONALITY
ENTERED
Vessels. Tons. Vessels. Tons.
American
39
246,059
39
232,768
German
Vessels. Tons.
780 1,197,970
784 1,198,346
Austrian
25
97,789
25
97,789
Italian
12
31,500
12
31,400
Belgian
1
2,903
Japanese
434
1,049,540
434
1,052,865
British
5,053
5,895,486
Chinese
416
333,578
5,062 419
5,879,346
Norwegian
181
192,278
184
197,001
334,737
Portuguese
221
45,195
220
45,021
Chinese Junks.. 12,956
1,109,680
12,877
1,091,562
Russian
13
34,326
13
34,326
Danish
15
34,211
15
34,211
Swedish
11
18,099
11
18,099
Dutch.
97
French
201,014 463 583,516
98
203,458
Small Craft
2,023
90,312 2,042 92,830
462
581,380
A total of 16,747 vessels of 10,151,970 tons entered, and 17,981 vessels of 9,905,877 tons cleared with cargoes. There also entered in ballast 5,993 vessels, of 1,012,416 tons, and 4,716 vessels of 1,236,854 tons cleared in ballast. A Parliamentary paper issued in August, 1905, showed Hongkong to be, in respect of tonnage, the largest shipping port in the world. The trade chiefly consists in opium, cotton, sugar, salt, flour, oil, cotton and woollen goods, cotton yarn, matches, metals, earthenware, amber, ivory, sandalwood, betel, vegetables, granite, &c., &c. There is an extensive Chinese passenger trade, chiefly restricted, however, to the Straits Settlements, Netherlands India, Borneo, the Philippines, Siam, and Indo-China.
Hongkong possesses unrivalled steam communication. The P. & O. S. N. Co. and the M. M. Co. convey the European mail weekly, the Norddeutscher Lloyd Co. maintain a regular fortnightly mail service between Bremen and Hongkong, the P. M. S. S. Co1 O. & O. S. S. Co. and the Toyo Kisen Kaisha maintain a mail service with San Francisco, the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. a regular mail service with Vancouver, B. C.; a regular line has been established by the Northern Pacific S. S. Co. to Tacoma, and Portland, Oregon, and the Portland and Asiatic S. N. Co. also run a line of steamers to Portland; the Eastern and Australian S. S. Co., the China Naviga- tion Co. and the Norddeutscher Lloyd keep up
a regular monthly service with the Australian Colonies, and the Nippon Yusen Kaisha maintain services to Europe, Australia, and the United States (Seattle) In addition to all these, several great lines of merchant steamers run between ports in Great Britain and Hongkong, of which the China Mutual S. S. Co., Ocean S. S. Co. and the Glen, Warrack, Mogul, Ben, Union, Shire, and Shell lines are the most conspicuous. The Austrian Lloyd's steamers also ply from Trieste to Hongkong, those of the Hamburg-Amerika line from Hamburg, and the Navigazione Generale Italiana Company's steamers run monthly from Genoa, Regular steam communication between Java and Hongkong has been established by the Java-China-Japan Line. Between the ports on the east coast of China, Formosa and Hongkong the steamers of the Douglas S. S. Co. ply regularly twice a week, and thos of the Osaka Shosen Kaisha weekly, and there is constant steam communication