1
CANTON
903
poration were opened in Central Avenue, on October 29th, 1921, There is a Roman Catholic church on the French Concession. The Settlement has the Victoria Hotel providing good accommodation. During an anti-foreign riot on the 10th September, 1883, 16 houses and the Concordia Theatre on the Settle- ment were burned by the mob.
to
|
TRADE IN 1931.
:
.
·
1
:
The year under review was a most abnormal one at Canton aselse- where. Trade had to face the full effect of the silver decline; many firms that had only slightly felt the disadvantages of the low lollar in 1930 were seriously confronted with the problem of exchange, which was made more acute by a further fall of the Hong Kong dollar to the low record of 102d. in February. The anti-Japanese boycott, had the effect of adding further to the problems the merchants The import of 200,000 piculs of foreign flour in excess of the figures for the previous year, as against a small in- crease of 5,000 piculs in Chinese flour, may be taken as an instance of the effect of low prices of foreign commodities. The value of the export trade from Canton to foreign ports was approximately 61.6 million Haikwan taels, and exports to Chinese ports equalled 14.9 million taels, making a total for the whole export trade of the port of 76.5 millions, as against a total for 1930 of 69 millions and for 1929 of 85.6 millions. The improvement over the 1930 figures is probably somewhat greater than would appear to be indicated by the Value tables, owing to a general lowering of prices in 1931. The value of the export trade in silk and silk products was 39.5 mil- lion taels, as compared with 46 millions in 1930 and 60 millions in 1929. The silk industry fared badly throughout most of the year, and it is reported that 70 out of the 75 filatures in the Shunteh district have completely closed down. Exports of white raw silk decreased by 7,000 piculs, valued at a mil- lion taels, as compared with the previous year and by 13,400 piculs, valued at 22 million taels, compared with the figures for 1929.
In an attempt
revive this
this declining trade the Bureau of Re- construction obtained permission from the Government to
Government to establish a modern silk filature in Canton, which
which will be operated by the latest scientific methods. Since the introduction of new methods of rear- ing silkworms and of reeling in 1930, a distinct improvement in the qua- lity of silk has been reported. The Silk Testing Bureau in Shameen,¦ esta- blished by the Government in 1930 for examining silk exported from Can- ton, is doing useful work, and certificates issued by it testifying as to the quality of silk shipped abroad are accepted by consignees without question. Exports of waste silk and silk piece goods were larger than in 1930. The total value of ores exported remained the same as before, but it should be noted that while wolfram, ore maintained its rate of increase and reached a quantitative figure of 77,552 piculs, yet its value decreased by over a million taels. The value of the export trade in mats and matting increased from 2.8 million to 5.3 million taels, bed-mats numbering 8,211 as against 5,000 in 1930, while mattings decreased from 81,000 to 70,027 rolls. The value of fruit exported fell from 2.4 million to 1.7 million taels. A slight increase also took place in prepared tobacco. The total value of the export tobacco trade rose from 1.5 million to nearly 2 million taels. The two lar- gest items in the fan trade are the trimmed and untrimmed palm-leaf fans of the tariff. Over 10,000 mille of the former, nearly 31,000 mille of the lat- ter, and nearly 3,000 mille of decorated fans were exported during the year. Nankeens have now forced themselves into the million-tael class of export staples, 20,564 piculs, of a value of over 1.5 million taels, being shipped away during 1931. There was an enhanced demand for this locally made cloth to take the place of Japanese cloth after the institution of the boy- cott, a particularly strong demand coming from Manila Singapore and various other overseas places where numbers of Chinese reside. Teas worth 0.5 million taels, cassia products worth 0.8 million, and silverware worth 0.4 million are other exports of Canton that are worthy of mention: Ship-
.
1
•
·
?