KOWLOON FRONTIER DISTRICT OF
THE CHINESE MARITIME
CUSTOMS
This is the inclusive name given to the Chinese Maritime Customs stations adjacent to Hongkong and established in 1887 in accordance with the Chefoo Agreement of 1876 and its Additional Article of 1885 for the purpose of recording the movement of opium and of collecting duty on the trade carried on by Chinese junks between Hongkong and Chinese ports. In 1899, when the New Territory was taken over by Hongkong, the Customs stations were removed from their former locations, which had been brought within the British boundary, and the present Stations and Barriers, naming them from west to east, are as follows: Lintin Station and Taishan Station (in the Canton Delta), Shehow and Kwaimiao Stations (on the shores of Deep Bay), Shatau Barrier (at the mouth of Shum- chun River), Tsoiyukwai Barrier, Shumchun River Station, Shumchun Railway Station and Lowu Barrier (at Shumchun--nearby is Shumchun H.Q. and Wireless Station, a group of buildings on a hill not classed as a Customs Station), Lofong and Lintong and Shatowkok Barriers (at the mouth of Starling Inlet), Yimtin and Shauchung and Namo Stations (on the shores of Mirs Bay), Samun Station (on Tuniang Island beyond Mirs Point), and, further up the coast, Swabue Station. In addition there are certain minor posts for purely preventive work. Most of these stations are temporarily evacuated due to the hostilities.
TRADE IN 1939
The total value of direct foreign trade in the Kowloon district amounted to 15 million standard dollars, a decrease of 160 million standard dollars when compared with the corresponding figures for 1938. The following are the values of foreign imports and exports recorded during the year with comparative statistics for the preceding year: Imports: 8.6 million standard dollars as against 143.9 million standard dollars in 1938; Exports: 6.4 million standard dollars as against 30.7 million standard dollars in 1938. The heavy falling off in trade was mainly attributable to the serious difficulties and handicaps to overland trade which included the disruption of the Kowloon-Canton Railway and highway, a general blockade of the coast and river and the occupation of certain pr ncipal places on the border of the Kowloon district, resulting in trade, which normally flows through the environs of Shumchun, to be diverted to less convenient routes and, for lack of facilities in the transportation of bulky products there, reduced to a limited volume. Furthermore, in Hongkong, following the outbreak of the war in Europe in September, there were a sharp increase in the cost of living, a shortage of certain commodities and a war measure to prohibit the movement to and from the Colony of a number of articles except under licence, all of which combined to have an adverse effect on trade.
As a consequence such items as railway carriages, wagons, railway materials, motor trucks, chassis, cars, passenger vehicles, chemicals not enumerated in the Tariff, rice and machinery disappeared almost completely from the list of imports. Imports of gasolene dwindled from 40.2 million litres in 1938 to a meagre total of 0.6 million litres, while kerosene oil, liquid fuel and lubricating oil declined in like manner. On the other hand cotton yarn showed an increase of 756,600 kilogrammes over the 1938 figures. Hongkong-manufactured cigarettes enjoyed a period of prosperity due to their privileged status and also because in normal times Canton serves as the main distributing centre.