HONGKONG
The following table shows fifteen years' means of the annual and monthly values of the principal meteorological elements:-
Bar. lean pressurė Do. Maximum Do. Minimum Mean temperature
Do. maximum
Jan. Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec Year .30.040 30.024 29.939 29.844 29.750 29.654 29.619 30.509 30.400 30.355 30.273 30.045 29.889 29 889 29.605 29.421 29.527 29.488 29.330 29.284 28-762
60.0 58.4 62.8 70.2 76.8 80.9 81.9 81.4 64.5 62.9 67.0 74.5 81.4 85.3 86.7 86.4
29.628 29.719 29.874 29.999 30.055 20,844 29.873 30.009 30.192 30.311 30.444 30 50g 29.083 28.876 29.089 29.575 29.752 28.762 80.4 76.2 69.2 62.7 71.7 85.3 80.8 74.3 67.7 76.4
Do. minimum
56.3 54.9 59.5
66.9
73.6
77.6
78.3 77.6
76.6
Maximum
79.3 79.1 82.1 88.6
91.5
93.6
94.0
97.0
94.0
72.5 65.1 58.5 68.1 93.8. 85.6 81.9 97.0
Minimum
32.0
38.4
45.9
51.8
62.0
68.9
7.21
7.16
65.6
57.4 46.7 40.7 32.0
Mean daily range
8.2
8.0
7.5
7.6
7.8
7.7
8.4
8.8
8.7
8.3
Mean humidity
74
76
83
85
83
83
82
33
77
71
9.2 9.2 8.3. 66
67 77
Meau rain fall..
1.442
1.688
2.987
5.511 11.713 15.681
12.555
14.362
9.668
4.911
1.445 1 221 83.148
Maximum in 24 hours
3.920
2.185
3.785
Mean max. in 24 hours 0.695
0.650
1.037
Maximum in 1 hour
0.725
0.970
Mean max. in 1 hour
0.230
0.247
0.905
Hours of rain
52
70
79
90
6.225 20.495 12.630 13.480 11.135 2.224 3.877 4.422 3.431 3.842 1.570 2.420 3.400 2.855 3.480 2.350 0.444
1.218 1.405 83
5.855 10.190
5.875 1.670 20.495
1.950
1.195
1.267
1.010
87
66
69
54
35
3.083 2.210 1.650 0.553 03.02 0.165 2.087
30 38 761
0.870 0.548 7.914
1,690 0.500 3.480
Wind direction
E by N EbyN
E by N
Do. velocity mean(M.P. H )13.6
14.5
Do. Maximum
46
53
Hours of sunshine
139.0 95.5
158 49 84.1
E 14.7
47 112.5
E by S SEbyS SEbyS 12.9 12.2 11.1 43 48 108 155.1 164,5 210.2
SE
Eby N E by N
ENE
ENE E
9.5
11.7 14.4 86 89
85 90 63 109 200.5 195.2 213,5 187,0 178,5 1929.1
13.1 12.1 13.0
Four successive years of comparative drought, 1898-1901, led to the assumption that the rainfall of Hongkong is decreasing. But such is not the case; the mean annual rainfall for the period 1902-11 was 84.21 inches against 68.29 inches for the period 1895- 1901. The rainfall has never been so heavy as in the period 1888-1894, however, when the mean annual fall was 101-08 inches.
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 1913 the following tonnage entered and cleared :-
CLEARED
NATIONALITY
ENTERED
CLEARED
NATIONALITY
ENTERED
Vessels. Tons. Vessels. Tons.
Vessels. Tons. Vessels. Tons.
British
5,412 6,255,613
5,422
6,272,555
Norwegian
189
182,633 186
178,381
American
73
270,997
68
256,351
Portuguese
223
69,667
221
68,791
Austrian
51
168,053
50
164,157
Russian
34
86,021
34
80,021
Chinese
863
591,452
863
591,841
Swedish
12
31,497
12
31,407
Chinese Junks..12,806
1,447,027
12,847
1,435,491
No Flag
7
1,680
Danish
13
34,433
13
34,433
Steamshipsun-
Dutch.
128
242,023
126
239,317
French
307
422,796
308
423,010
aer 60 tous | trading to
2,267
93,722
2,307
95,291
German
597
1,107,453
593
1,101,379
ports outside
Italian
7
18,312
7
18,312
Japanese
749 1,907,307 734 1,893,238
the Colony..)
A total of 17,499 vessels of 11,768,791 tons entered, and 19,984 vessels of 11,489,746 tons cleared with cargoes. There also entered in ballast 6,223 vessels of 1,161,120 tons, and 3,814 vessels of 1,401,995 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 of opium, cotton, sugar, salt, flour, oil, cotton and woollen goods, cotton yarn, matches, metals, earthenware, amber, ivory, sandalwood, betel, vegetables, granite, etc., etc. There is an extensive Chinese passenger trade, chiefly restricted, however, to the Straits Settlements, Netherlands India, Borneo, the Philippines, Siam, and Indo-China.
war,
Hongkong possesses unrivalled steam communication. The P. & O. S. N. Co. and the M. M. Co. conveyed European mails weekly, and before the outbreak of the which eliminated German and Austrian shipping, the Norddeutscher Lloyd maintained a regular fortnightly mail service between Bremen and Hongkong. The P. M. S. S. Co., O. & O. S. S. Co. and the Toyo Kisen Kaisha maintain a mail service with San Francisco, the Canadian Pacific Railway Co, main- tained a regular mail service with Vancouver, B.C., until war broke out, when all their steamers were taken up by the Imperial Government. The Bank Line, Ltd., run regular steamers to Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle and to Tacoma, and the same line maintains regular services to New York and Africa; the Eastern and Australian S.S. Co., the Australian Oriental Line and the Norddeutscher Lloyd kept 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,