Directory_and_Chronicle_1934

KONGMOON

A503:

flour, and forign sundries, including a variety of Japanese commodities of a cheap nature. Large quantities of softwood poles are floated down in the form of rafts, which are dismantled here. These mostly come from beyond Wuchow and also from the North River. The yearly value of this branch of the trade is estimated at about $750,000. There is a silk filature in the town which affords employment to about 300 women; the total cut-turn of silk amounts. to about 100 catties per day. An interesting local industry is the dredging of large shells, from which a good quality of lime is made. The annual pro- duction of these shells is estimated at 200,000 piculs, worth about $40,000. Quite an important industry has sprung up in Kongmoon, namely, the pre- serving and canning of Chinese fruit for export abroad, where it is consumed' by the numerous Chinese in America, Australia and the Straits Settlements. Paper, which finds a ready market in Hongkong, is manufactured by the Kongmoon Paper Mill. The unique opportunities presented for transport by the unrivalled waterways of the delta have been well developed by native enterprise, and there is a large and lucrative passenger trade with Canton, Fatshan, Sancheong, Hongkong, Macao, etc. Large, roomy native passenger boats towed by powerful launches are engaged in this trade. The surrounding country is picturesque, fertile and highly cultivated, and the inhabitants are prosperous and industrious. Rice is, of course, the principal crop, and it is milled locally, but mulberry shoots are very extensively cultivated for sale in the silk-producing centres, and large quantities of fresh vegetables are exported to supply the Hongkong market.

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