CHINA
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CUSTOMS REVENUE FOR 1920
The Maritime Customs Revenue for 1920 amounted in round numbers to Hk. Tls. 49,500,000 (at average exchange value of 6s/93d equal to £16,809,375) and showed an increase of 3 million taels on the previous record collection for 1919. The gold equivalent of tlie 1920 collection at average exchange was £2,242,709 higher than the collection for 1919,
The 1920 revenue of the Native Customs under the Inspector General's control amounted in round numbers to Hk. Tls. 4.380,000 (at average exchange value of 68/93d. equal to £1,487,375), showing a decrease of Hk. Tls. 111,000 on the 1919 collection but still surpassing the 1918 collection by Hk. Tls. 406,000.
All Foreign Loan and Indemnity obligations secured on the Customs Revenues, including the Service of the Recorganisation Loan, were fully met, and a sum of Sh. Tls. 23,150,000 was released to the Central Government.
CUSTOMS REVENUE FOR 1921
The Maritime Customs revenue for 1921 amounted in round numbers to Hk. Tls 54,500,000, which, at the average exchange of 3s. 11 d., is equal to £10,772,265, and shows an increase of Tls. 5,000,000 on the previous record collection, namely, in 1920.
It is to be noted however, that, as the result of the drop in the average rate of ex- change from 6s. 91d. in 1920, the gold equivalent of the 1921 collection at the average exchange is over £6,000,000 less than 1920.
The 1921 revenue from native Customs under the control of the Inspector-General amounts in round figures to Hk. Tls. 4,500,000 (at the above average exchange equal to £889 453), showing an increase of Tls. 120,000.
RAILWAYS
Although China is traversed in all directions by roads, they are usually mere tracks, or at best footpaths, along which the transport of goods is a tedious and difficult undertaking. A vast internal trade is, however, carried on over the roads, and by means of numerous canals and navigable rivers. The most populous part of China is singularly well adapted for the construction of a network of railways, and a first attempt to introduce them into the country was made in 1876, when a line from Shanghai to Woosung, ten miles in length, was constructed by an English company. This little railway was subsequently purchased by the Chinese Government and closed by them on the 21st October, 1877. Since that time the principle of railways has been fully accepted. The railway from Shanghai to Woosung was re-opened in 1898, as forming part of a line to Soochow, which the provincial authorities had obtained per- mission from the Throne to construct. A tramway, a few miles in length, begun in 1881 to carry coal from the Kaiping coal mines, near Tongshan, to the canal bank, has been extended to Taku and Tientsin on the one hand, and to Kinchow and Newchwang on the Gulf of Liao-tung on the other. This track was only completed in the early part of 1900, and during the summer months was, between Kinchow and Newchwang, largely destroyed by the Chinese so as to preclude the advance of Russian forces on Peking via Manchuria. A line from Peking to Tientsin was opened in 1897, the Peking terminus being at Machiapu, a point two miles from the Tartar city, whence a short electric line connected it with one of the principal gates; the traffic developed so rapidly that in 1898-9 the electric line had to be doubled. From Lukouchiao (or Marco Polo's Bridge) a line of about eighty miles in length was constructed southward to Paoting- fu, the capital of the province of Chihli ; this line, in October, 1899, was handed over by the British constructors to the Belgian Syndicate as an integral factor in the great trans-continental line from Peking to Hankow. These lines were all more or less deliberately and in some parts completely destroyed by the Chinese during 1900. The Railways, as foreign innovations, were particularly hateful to the Boxers, who in many cases attacked the lines with a fury as intense as it was insensate: burning the stations, destroying bridges, tiring the sleepers and carrying off the metals. Later on, track destruction was a strong feature of the strategy of the Imperial troops, and from their point of view, wisely so. It was the cutting of the Railway that was the sole cause of Admiral Seymour's failure in his gallant attempt to rescue the Legations. All the lines in North China were attacked and badly cut. Since then the terminus at Peking
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