1032
HONGKONG
checking malaria, and the attention latterly bestowed on sanitation has not been without its due effect. The general death rate per 1,000 in 1914 in 12.9 for the non- Chinese community only (including the Army and Navy) as compared with 10.9 in 1913. Among the Chinese community the death rate was 23.8 per 1,000 compared with 21.75 in 1913. The birth-rate was 9.3 per 1,000 among the Chinese community and 16.8 among the non-Chinese community.
The following table shows fifteen years' means of the annual and monthly values of the principal meteorological elements:-
Bar. Mean pressure Do. Maximum
Do. Minimnu.
Mean temperature
เ
Jan. Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov, Dec. Year .30.040 30.024 .29.939 29.841 29.750 29.654 29.619 29.628 29.719. 20.874 20.939 30,055 29.844 .30.509 30.400 30.356 30.273 30.045 29.88) 29 889 29.873 30.009 30.192 30.311 30,444 30 509 29.605 29.421 29.527 29.488 29.330 29.284 28-782 29,083 28.876 29.089 29.575 20.752 23.762
60.0 58.4 62.8 70.2 76.8 80.9 81.9 81.4
SQ.4 76.2
6AL 2
62.7
71.7
Do. maximum
64,5 02.9 67.0 74.5
81.4
85.3 86.7
86.4
85.3 90.8
1
Do. minimum
56.3 54.9 59.5
66.9
73.6
77.0
78.3
77.6
76.6
74.3
76.4 72.5 65.1 58.5 69.1
67.7
Maximum
79.3 79.1 82.1
88.6
91.5
93 6
94.0
97.0
94.0
Minimum
32.0
38.4 45.9
51.8
62.0
68.9
7.21
7.16 65.6 67.4
93.8 85,6 $1.0 46.7
07.0
40.7 32.0
Mean daily rauge
8.2
8.0
7.5
7.0
7.9
7.7
8.4
8.8
87
8.3
9.2
9.2
8.3
Mean humidity
74
76
**
85
83
83
પ્રથ
83
77
71
66
67
77
Mean rain fall..
1.442
1 688
2. 987
5.511 11.713 15.081 12.555
14.362
9.663
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
0.050
1.037
Maximum in 1 hour
0.725
0 970
1
6.225 20.495 12.630.13.480 11.135 2.224 1.570 2.420
5.855
10.190
5.875
1,670 20,495
3.877 4.422 3.431 3.842 3.400 2.855 3.480 2.350 1.950
3.083
2.210
1.050
0.870 0.548 7.914 1.690 0.500 3.480
Mean max in 1 hour
0.230
0.247
0.444
0.905
1.196
Hours of raiu
52
70
83
79
66
Wind direction
Eby N EbyN
E by N
Do. velocity mean(M.P.H )13.6
Do. Maximum
Hours of sunshine
14.5 46 53 139.0 95.5
158 49 84.1
E 14.7 47 112.5
1.218 1.405 90 87 Eby S SEbyS SEbyS 12.9 12.2 11.1
43 48 108 86 89
85 155.1 104.5 210.2 200.5 195.2 213.5
1.267
1.010 0.553
68
SE
54 Eby NE by N
35
03.02
30
0.165
2.087
ENE
38 ENE
761
E
9.5
11.7 14.4
12.1 13.0
13.1
90 03 108 187.0 178.5 19.201
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. In 1914 it rose to 100.21 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 in normal times at about £50,000,000 per annum. During the year 1914 the following tonnage entered and
cleared :-
NATIONALITY
British
ENTERED
CLEARED
NATIONALITY
ENTERED
CLEARED
Vessels. Tons.
Vessels. Tons.
Vessels. Tons Vessels. Tons.
3,225
5,797, 25
5,182
5,656,237
Norwegian
182
192,131
162
167,6:95
American
59
236,664
54
234,46
Portuguese
192
52,00%
42
29,638
Austrian
30
98,603
31
102,599
Russian
17
48,977
17
52,172
Chinese..
963
687,445
967
696,302
Swedish
10
23,963
9
23,898
Chinese Junks.. 7,511
79,834 12,115
1,458,756
No Flag
Danish
16
46,908
16
46,906
Steamships un-
Dutch.
83
222,4-1
107
220,426
der 60 tons
French
151
240,756
147
241,983
trading
to 1,781
68,597
989
49,545
German
337
679,746
243
Japanese
743 1,986,112 598
585,407 1,621,770
ports outside the Colour.......
A total of 17,300 vessels of 11,187,932 tons entered, and 20,764 vessels of 11,196,640 tons cleared with cargoes. There also entered in ballast 8,169 vessels of 1,456,258 tons, and 5,041 vessels of 1,438,794 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.
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 war, which eliminated German and Austrian shipping, the Norddeutscher Lloyd maintained a regular fortnightly mail service between Bremen and Hongkong. The China Mail S.S. Co., O. & O. S. S. Co. and the Toyo Kisen Kaisha maintain a mail service with San Francisco, and the Canadian Pacific Ocean Services, Ltd., maintained a regular mail service with Vancouver, B.C., until war broke out, when all their steamers were taken up by the Imperial Government. Two vessels were released in December, 1915, and this Company is now operating four steamers on this route. 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
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