L
502
REVENUE,
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
The total collection under all heads shows an increase of Tls. 48,453, the net result of the following figures :—
Increase.
Tls. m.c.c. Export duty (excluding opium)... 380.5.6.6 Import likin (excluding opium)... 12,065.5.5.2 Export likin
6,567.6.8.5 Import Ching-fei (chiefly kerosine
pil)
57,949.2.9.9
Tls. 76,963.1.0.2
Tls. Import duty (exclusive of opium) ...16,336.1.9.7 Opium duty
3,320.0.2.5 Opium likin
8,853.4.0.0 Tls. 28,509.6.2.2
Decrease.
m.0.0.
Net increase
Tls. 48,453.4.8.0 The whole amount collected was. Tls. 542,560, in addition to which Tls. 16,797 were received for the granary tax on rice and paddy exported abroad. The doubling of the Ching-fei tax on kerosine, which took effect from the 15th February, added some Tls. 44,000 to the revenue under that head, though it doubtless helped to bring about a diminished insportation of the oil. With the increased value of the import trade, the decreased import duty can only be explained on the supposition that the trade has trended more to Canton; the goods bound there by junk pay likin only at Capsuimoon and duty at their destination. The increase of likin sup- ports this explanation. The imported rice, above referred to, pays no duty, though of course it swells the value of trade.
FOREIGN TRADE.
prevailed during the year and, it is said, caused almost a complete failure of both crops of rice in the two Kwang provinces. Most of the rice above mentioned comes from Siam and Annam by steamer to Hongkong, where it is transhipped into the junks which convey it to Canton for farther transhipment into boats suitable for the inland waters.
Exports. Bricks have nearly doubled in quantity, owing to the activity of building operations in Hongkong, which the plague of the previous year almost brought to a standstill. Other building materials, such as lime, timber, poles, etc., show a corresponding improvement. Cassia lignea, palm-leaf fans, and fire-crackers demand from increased in response to a America. The establishment of a feather.
cleaning factory in Hongkong has stimulated the export of feathers. A greater consumption of fire-crackers, second quality paper, and joss paper is said to be the consequence of more fre- quentand abundant devotional offerings to obtain immunity from the plague, The larger export of tea is probably a mere transfer of the trade from steamers. Native tobacco leaf is reaping the benefit of cheap silver and replacing the foreign article in the manufacture of cigars and cigarettes for native smokers. A decrease appears in the export of cuttle-fish, owing to Japanese competition, absent in 1894; in rice, due to the demand in China; in raw silk, on account of the shortness of the crop; and in sugar from the Lei-chou district, in consequence of good prices offering and the greater speed and safety of steamers, to which the trade was partly diverted.
Re-exports.-Nil.
COAST TRADE.
June 18, 1996.
maintenance of the restrictions against gambling mentioned in the report for 1894. Of junks passing through the stations, inwards, with cargo there were 4,785 more, but those in ballast were 258 less, than in the preceding year. The total number passing ontwards with cargo was 2,716 greater, Knd those in ballast were more by 1,838. Junks:inward and outward together represent an increase of nearly 15 per cent. There passed through Changchow Station en route to Hongkong one junk from Annam and one from Biam, while three junks departed for Annam and one for Singapore.
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.- -
The total number of passengers pass inwards through Customs Stations was 561,8, a decrease of 227,543; outwards, the number was 332,341, a falling off of 227,501. In both cases, it will be seen, the decline is almost entirely in the Kowloon traffic, and practically represents the loss of custom to the place as a result of closing the gambling-houses- 5' loss which has been bewailed by the interested persons. Fugitives from the plague in the summer and their return to the colony on its cessation also swelled to some extent the passenger statistics during 1894. The figures now reached appear to be about normal, as will be seen on reference to the statistics for years antecedent to 1892.
Nil.
TREASURE.
OPTUM.
Foreign. The quantity of opium-590 piculs -brought to the Stations of the Kowloop Cus toms for examination is below the previous year's total by 111 piculs, or more than 17 per cent. The decrease is common to all the places usually supplied, with the exception of Shanmi, in the Hoifung district, and Changchow, in the district of Sanon. Importations via the Kow- loon Stations for the years 1888-95 have been as follows:
1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895.
2,851 2,453 1,810 1,447 961 916 641 530-picals. has fallen off but little. Other items show no change of importance. The value of this busi. The importation of foreign opium into Hong ness was some Hk.Tls. 400,000 in excess of the kong during the year is the lowest recorded preceding year's figures, more than half the since 1888. The total-36,6094 chests-falls increase being attributable to the above-men-short of that for 1894 by 4,968) chests. The tioned trade in dried and salt fish.
following summary gives the figures for each year since 1898:
Hongkong-Macao Trade via Changchow and Capsuimoon. The value of merchandise trans- ported by junks from Hongkong to Macao bas fallen off to the extent of over half a million taels, or about 18.7 per cent.; that from Macao to Hongkong has also declined, by over Hk.Tls. 175,000, or 15.4 per cent. It seems improb- able that with the general improvement in the year's trade there should be an actual fall- ing off in that between the two colonies, and it is likely that the decrease above mentioned merely represents a transfer from junk to steamer, though no figures are procurable. Four launches have been actually employed but only two regularly, as compared with seven The junks were during the previous year. 1,641, against 1,803 in the preceding year. Of the goods from Hongkong and Macao there is an increase in white and dyed shirtings and cotton yarn, in manufactured iron, raisins, betel-nuts, china-ware, raw cotton, dried fish, medicines, rattans, and ground-nut oil; while
Original Shipments Coastwise.-Nil. Goastwise Arrivals (i.e., produce exchanged Imports-Cotton piece goods show an im- between Chinese ports via the Kowloon Sta. provement of some 7,000 pieces over the pre-tions.)-The trade in dried and salt fish re- ceding year's importations of 33,000 pieces, sulted in the movement of 52,236 piculs, nearly shirtings (white, dyed, and figured), chintzes, treble the amount of 1894, and more than five Italians, and cambrics being the kinds in times that of previous records. Grass and straw creased, while grey shirtings and T-cloths bags rose from about 7,000 to 135,000 pieces. have slightly fallen off. Indian cotton yarn Traffic in salt, mentioned in the 1894 report, has jumped from 381 to 44,884 piouls, the largest year's importation by junks on record. The bulk of this trade has been and is still done by steamers, being largely the mono- poly of a Canton syndicate. A rise in steamer freight and some modification of the tax levied on junk-borne yarn in Canton is said to be the cause of the diversion of a good share of this business from steamers to junks, but it is also asserted that the high price of foreign piece goods has stimulated the weaving industry in the interior of China. Looms have grown in number and with them the demand for yarn. The imports of yarn by steamer to Canton are, I am informed, about 36,423 piculs short of the total for the previous year, so that the result of the combined trade is an increase of some 8,080 picnls. Woollens show only a slight advance, an increased. import of Spanish stripes being nearly balanced by short imports of other kinds. In metals, all kinds of manufactured iron have improved, and, with the exception of nailrod, have reached the highest figures recorded. Pig and kentledge continue the decline which has marked their import for some years. Lead in pigs has risen from 37,000 to 42,000 piculs. Kerosine oil fell off by nearly 3,000,000 gallons, the loss being chiefly in the American product. At the end of 1894 the prospect of a heavy addition of likin and Ching-fei caused large consignments of the Russian tank oil to be poured into the Kwangtung province and brought about an increase in the importa- tions of that year of 3,660,000 gallons, com- pensated in 1895 by a falling off of a quantity almost identical, but of American origin. Short arrivals of American oil and high prices have no doubt assisted in pushing, the Russian oil at the expense of its rival. Some 700,000 gallons of the whole quantity imported came from Sumatra and found a ready sale at about the price of the Russian oil. It now appears for the first time in the annual returns of this port. Matches have receded by 20,000. gross. The imports of rice and paddy are nearly twice those of the previous year, the arrivals of the former amounting to over 6,000,000 piculs, being the heaviest on record. This large im- portation is attibuted to the drought which
B
decline is shown in almost everything else, the heaviest being in grey shirtings, T-cloths, lead, yellow metal, beans, indigo, kerosine oil, rice, sugar, and timber. The amount of American kerosine carried was less by about two-thirds, or 461,000 gallons, and of Russian, 12,000 gallons. Among the articles brought from Macao the most con- spicuous deficiencies are in gunny and straw bags, packing mats, brassware, preserved eggs, palm-leaf fans, tea, and sugar; crackers, joss sticks, straw mats, ground-nut oil, rice, and timber improved.
Nil.
INLAND TRANSIT.
SHIPPING.
while fire-
The number of steam-launches entered and cleared at Chinese Kowloon, which includes the stations both at the east and west sides of the peninsula, was only 7,868, as compared with 10,523 in the previous year. This decrease is scarcely regrettable, as it is the result of the
1888. 1889. 1890, 1891. 1899. 1899. 1894. 1895.
71,518 67,430 62,464 68,419 56,864 29,098 41,678 38,6007 skerti High prices ruled for Bengal opium in Jani ary, in consequence of reports from India that the touch of the new Patna was inferior. February, however, new Patna reached $905 and then collapsed in sympathy with the Indian
a brisker demand towards the end of the year, market, falling as low as $685. There was when the closing quotation was about $750, and for Benares $782 to $737. The market for Malwa was not so fluctuating, and though the price fell to $680 in June, it stiffened towards ... the end of the year, with prices varying from $710 to $740. The market for Persian was practically inanimate, owing to the uncertainty
of affairs in Formosa.
Native. Very little native opium comes under the cognizance of the Kowloon Customs. It travels overland and is spread by interior routes. 1.74 piouls of Szechnen opium, covered by Ichang documents, reported at Capenimoon Station, is our only record, and was said to be part of a larger shipment brought by steamer to Canton. With the steady annual increase in the price of the foreign drug, and the average quotations in 1895 indicate a rise of over 10 per cent., the way is paved for the successful com- petition of the native drug, which has no doubt fully supplied the deficiency in foreign opium reported in this and so many previous years.
MISCELLANEOUS.
The net value of the trade for the year is shown below:-
Foreign imports from Hongkong Native imports from Hongkong, Native imports, Chins to China
Exports to Hongkong Exports, Hongkong to Macao .. Exports, Macao to Hongkong hude
Hk. Tis 21,585,595 8,455.780
2,665,779
22,678,090. 2.429,431
-964-294
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