PAKHOI HOIHOW
局郵海北
潔聖節旬
五
CHURCH
POST OFFICE-
MISSION-
PENTECOSTAL HOLINESS
Rev. C. H. Herndon, supt.
Miss Laura M. Hylton
Mrs. C. H. Herndon
Rev. G. C. Legge (On furlough)
Mrs. G. C. Legge
do...
州瓊
Postmaster-Chan Warbeck
Secretary-Chen Chu Tsai
Accountant-Chiu Ming-chang
STANDARD-VACUUM OIL CO.-
Ching Tai & Co., agents
A455
YEE TSOONG TOBACCO DISTRIBUTORS, LTD.—
Shok Kwan Shang
HOIHOW
Khung chau
口海 Hoi-hau
Hoihow is the seaport of the prefectural city of Kiungchow, the capital of the Island of Hainan. The two towns are separated by a distance of some three miles.
The port of Hoihow was opened by the establishment of a branch of the Chinese Maritime Customs in April, 1876. The harbour of Hoihow is an open roadstead, un- protected against the North-east monsoon, which blows with undisturbed vigour from September to April. The working of cargo is, therefore, normally difficult during those months, and at times impossible. In addition to the above disadvantages those months are also the dry months when no rain falls up-country, and consequently no water comes down by the Po Chung River to the sea. Again, the tides are more erratic in the winter than they are in the summer: sometimes there are two tides during the 24 hours, sometimes one, and sometimes none. Cargo then, having been loaded with difficulty into a cargo-boat alongside the importing steamer, has to face a stormy passage of two to three miles to the spit, which runs parallel to the town of Hoihow and a mile distant from it. Once at the spit the cargo-boat may be able to pole up the two miles of shallow muddy water which separates it from Hoihow.
As regards health, there is less fever in Hoihow than anywhere else in Hainan. There is excellent water to be had by the sinking of artesian wells, and several are already in existence. A harbour light and a light at Lamko (western entrance of the Hainan Straits) were opened in 1894; also one at Cape Cami on the lower tip of the peninsula in 1895. An Aga Lantern apparatus was installed on the West Fort close to the city at the commencement of 1916.
TRADE IN 1939
Trade statistics for 1939 in comparison with 1938: Direct importations from abroad, $1.3 million as compared with $3.6 million; coastwise importations of Chinese merchanise, $1.8 million as against $7.4 million; direct exportations to foreign countries, $1.6 million as against $4.3 million; and coastwise exportations of Chinese produce, $658,924 as against $7.6 million. The quantity of kerosene oil and gasolene imported from abroad receded to but a fraction of the figures for 1938, the same applying to lubricating oil and cigarettes. The trade in wheat flour and cow bones, both of which had occupied prominent places on the 1938 list, suffered a serious reverasl; the quantity of paper imports also diminished considerably. In domestic imports, cotton yarn and cotton piece goods remained the principal items, the aggregate sum of these being $1.1 million, or 60 per cent of the total of the year's domestic imports. Coastwise importa- tions of matches slumped from 161,339 to 92,300 gross, and of vermicelli from 7,468 to 1,633 quintals. ...
Staple exports fell off sharply, pigs, for instance, not being exported at all in the latter part of the year, the figures for the year diminishing from 85,871 to 20,699 head. Trade in fishing-nets also dwindled, as did both buffalo and cow hides and other hides and skins. Coastal exports of domestic produce were less than one-tenth of the 1938 figures. The quantity of sugar fell from 171,109 to 18,798 quintals, with the trade in dried betelnuts declining from 12,538 to 380 quintals. Vegetable products fell off heavily. Similarly, vegetable oil and groundnut oil declined from 6,308 to 248 quintals and 1,240 to 125 quintals respectively.