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II. TRADE, INDUSTRIES, FISHERIES, AGRICULTURE, AND LAND.
(.)-TRADE AND SHIPPING.
The following table shows the principal articles of import in the year 1901 in vessels of European construction, compared with similar returns for 1900. The figures represent the tonnage:-
Aricles.
1900.
1901.
Increase.
Decrease.
Beans,
560.
Coal,
1,045,812
1,290 917,144
730
128,668
Cotton Yarn and Cotton,.
19,993
14,423
5,570
Flour,........
154,111.
145,287
8,824
Hemp,
54,105
31,195
22,910
Kerosine, (bulk),
64,732
70,728-
5,996
**
(case),
69,979
77,977
7,998
Liquid Fuel,
2,739
3,973
1,214
Lead,
2,350.
260
2,090
Opium,
3.194
2,872
322
Rattan,
10,204
3,489
6,716
Rice,
673,029
618,780
54,249
Sandalwood,
3,811
5,272
1,461-
Sulphur,
22
55
33
Sugar,
238,863
241,291
2,428
Tea,
6,393
1,473
4,920
Timber,
82,311
66,860
15,451
General,.
1,172,094
1,278,619
106,525
Total,.
3,604,322
3,480,987
126,395
249,720
Transit,
2,143,749
2,134,585
9,164
Grand Total,.
5,748,071❘ 5,615,572
126,385
258,884
Netty...
132,499
There was a considerable decrease in coal imports as compared with 1900, but the amount imported in 1900 was far above the average. The coal imports for 1898, also, were stated to have been abnormally large, but the returns for last year show an increase as compared with that year of nearly 100,000 tons.
The principal features to be remarked in the reported trade of the Port for the year 1901 are:-
(i.) A decrease in the Coal imports of 12.3%. (ii.) A decrease in the Cotton imports of 27.8%. (iii.) A decrease in the Rice imports of 8 %.
(iv.) A decrease in the Timber imports of 18.7 %. (v.) A decrease in the Hemp imports of 42.3%.
(vi.) An increase in the General imports of 9.8%.
(vii.) Also small increases in case and bulk Kerosine and in Liquid Fuel.
The nett decrease in import cargo is 123,335 tons or 3.4%.
In exports there appears to be an increase of 150,823 tons or 7.7 %.
In transit cargo, a decrease of 9,163 tons or 10.4%.
In the interior
The Import Trade was very depressed throughout the year. of China there was much poverty, and trade was hampered by unauthorised exactions - on goods beyond the confines of the Treaty Ports. The fall in the exchange of silver and the high values ruling on the home markets-especially in raw cotton and al cotton fabrics—also militated severely against this branch of trade.
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