HONGKONG.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO ENQUIRE INTO THE CONDITION OF BRITISH TRADE IN HONGKONG.
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of
His Excellency the Governor,
REPORT.
1.--The Committee, appointed by His Excellency the Governor, in response to an inquiry from the Secretary of State asking whether there had been any and what dis- placement of British goods in this market, held their first sitting on the 29th February, and have since met thirteen times and taken the evidence of fourteen witnesses, which evidence has been supplemented by information gathered by the Secretary. A careful consideration of the whole has enabled the Committee to arrive at the conclusions given hereunder.
2.-At the outset the Committee were confronted with the difficulty that, Hongkong being a free port, precise returns of trade cannot be made up in this Colony owing to the absence of any statistics of imports and exports (with the single. exception of opium). The Committee have therefore limited their investigations to ascertaining where there has been displacement of British goods in this market by foreign manufactures, to what extent this displacement has been effected, and to what causes it has been due.
3.-It is apparent from the evidence that the displacement of British goods has been going on steadily for some years, but it has not been on a strikingly large scale nor have many great staples been very seriously affected. There are instances, how- ever, in which the British manufacture has been entirely ousted by foreign goods, as in the cases of Llama Braids and Aniline Dyes, while others, such as Spanish Stripes and Broad Cloths, have been in great measure replaced by similar goods imported from Germany.
4.-In other cases, again, there have been attempts to cut into British trade in smaller wares, sometimes by foreign imitations, with, however, often only a qualified or temporary success. These articles were represented by Hosiery, Lamps, Paper, Um- brellas, Rubber Shoes, Soaps, Biscuits, Beer, Locks, Files, Needles, Cutlery, etc., in which Germany and Japan are the principal competitors with England.
5.-There has been a serious falling off in the imports of Metals from Great Britain, notably in that of Yellow Metal, which formerly was exclusively imported from thence. It is estimated that only about half the import of this Metal now comes from British makers, the inferior German metal being greatly aided by the lower rate of freight payable from German ports. The same remarks apply to the trade in Bar Iron, Nail Rod, and Scrap Iron, most of which is now imported from Belgium, the productions of which country are helped by cheaper cost of production and lower freights from Ant- werp. Pig Lead, which formerly was imported from England and Germany, now comes almost exclusively from Australia on account of lower cost of production.
The Committee are conscious it may be objected to the foregoing paragraph, that a portion of the evidence does not bear out the statement that dead weight cargo shipped direct from Great Britain arrives here at a disadvantage in freight compared with that shipped from Continental ports. The Committee were constrained, nevertheless, to accept the balance of evidence, which unmistakeably points to the conclusion arrived at; and, to more clearly elucidate the point, some tabulated examples of actual shipments have been obtained.
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