THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND naval authorities why is it not on our charts? | pittance rapidly dwindling, and the complaint is
Yours, etc.
A. V. HODGINS. Hongkong, 8th July, 1897.
THE “UNEBI-KAN" MYSTERY.
TO THE EDİTOR OF THE "DAILY PRESS,'
Sir,-With reference to the letter in your issue of to-day's date over the signature A. V. Hodgins, I would point out that your corres- pondent appears to be under a misapprehension as to when the Unebi-kan was lost. I was in the Canal with her when she was on her voyage ant and she left Singapore about the same time as the P. & O. steamer Surat, I think the day before. The Surat arrived in Hongkong on the 3rd December, 1886, after a very rough passage up.
H. L. D.
becoming frequent that after years service their wages are insufficient to buy rice."
The Wuhu Commissioner writes on the same subject- The highest exchange rate for one dollar was 960 cash, and the lowest, 850' cash. It is stated that one tiuo (a nominal thousand) | of standard cash will produce, on meltage, 7 catties of good copper, which can be sold for 300 to 400 cash per catty on the lowest estimate, thus insuring a gross profit of at least 110 per cent. Futhermore, it is stated that 1,000 large cash will provide sufficient copper to make, when freely adulterated, from 6,000 to 10,000 spurious cash, these being invariably introduced into the strings of better cash in larger or smaller quantities, which are to a certain extent regula. ted by the traditions of the trade, but are also in a great measure dependent upon the relative bluffing" powers of payer and payee. Hence it will be seen that the incentives to divert the [The Unebi-kan left Singapore on the 5th copper currency from its legitimate uses have December, 1886.-Ed. D. P.]
been strong enough to bring about a dearth in the circulating medium; and, in fact, so scarce had it become at the beginning of 1896 that the Superintendent of Customs found it necessary to issue a proclamation on the 4th January pro- bibiting its export and restricting the quantity to be carried by any one traveller to 30,000 cash, which limit was subsequently reduced to 10,000 by the Provincial Treasurer.”
Hongkong, 10th July, 1897.
THE CUSTOMS REPORTS.
CURRENCY CHANGES
PROSPECTS OF THE COTTON INDUSTRY.
The Customs Reports for the 1896 have been issued at Shanghai. No copy has yet reached this office, but from Messrs. Noel, Murray & Co's Piece Good's Trade Report we take the following interesting notice:
The Trade Reports for the year 1896 have been published by the Statistical Department of the Inspectorate General of Customs, and extra interest is added to them by a description of the resources of the new Treaty Ports that were opened last Autumn. Except that it is a step in the direction of a general opening up of the country it does not appear at present that the Foreign import trade will derive any par- ticular benefit from these concessions, on the
contrary the tendency seems to be to develope
the native manufacture of yarns, etc. How- ever, it is to early yet too judge what the result will be.
hoped that during 1897 the authorities will And Chinkiang the following:"It is to be devise some useful measure to increase the has caused very great embarrassment all round, supply of copper cash. The scarcity of cash and remedial measures are argently needed to alleviate this distress. Formerly 1,050 cash scarcely realise 900 cash." were procurable for a dollar, now a dollar will
These are only a few of the remarks, but the
subject is touched upon by all the others, for instance Ningpo mentions the dollar has fallen to 780 cash against 1,050 formerly. Newchwang makes it 755. Tientsin gives no quotation but notices the appreciation. Chefoo remarks:- "Cash during the year were dear. the exchange for the dollar being at a time as low as 860 and seldom over 900 cash "--and so on.
[July 15, 1897.
as one may surmise, is much in favour with the Szechwanese on account of its fineness and dur- ability, and is therefore now disposed of not only in the big cities but also in the villages and farmsteads througout the province. The local price obtainable averaged from Tls.80 to Tls.100. per picul, some 10 to 15 per cent, above the quotations of the previous year. It is said that the lowering of the steamer rates between Hankow and Ichang is another cause of the ac tivity in the yarn trade. But for the short deliveries on account of the delay at the new rapid, the result of our piece goods trade would have been more satisfactory. As it is some 630,000 pieces of cotton goods and 30,000 pieces of Woollens were landed, representing an aggregate value of about Hk. Tls.2,000,000, or a diminution of about 10 per cent. on the preceding year's importation."
Shasi, one of the new Treaty Ports,
"is the largest market in Central China for native cotton cloth. The spinning of Yarn and the weaving of cloth are the chief domestic in- dustries carried on here and in neighbouring places. Local merchants buy the cloth on the market, where it is brought by the individual weavers; they then assort it and resell to retailers or ship it off. A market for the sale of cotton cloth is held daily in the early morning. The export of this fabric constitutes by far the most important trade of the port. quantities are also sent to Yunnan (via Chung. Szechwan takes most of this Cloth, but large king), Kweichow, and Kwangtung. All the the exports to Yunnan, Kweichow, and Kwang. cloth sent to Szechwan is plain white, whilst
tung consist principally of dyed. Indigo is grown largely in the neighbouring districts and is almost exclusively used for dying the locally woven textile. The exports of cottons tung are estimated at about 150,000 piculs, but to Szechwan, Yunnan, Kweichow, and Kwang- it is likely that this figure is below rather than above the actual quantity that goes forward. No foreign yarn is used in weaving
this cloth. A few years ago a beginning was made to use Foreign yarn, but the attempt was quickly abandoned on the peremptory order of the Cotton Cloth Dealers' Association. The With regard to the yarn and piece goods cloth is woven in pieces of 38 and 28 feet long; trade, the Newchwang report mentions the the former is called Ta Pu and the latter Hsiao shipments of yarn direct from Hongkong, in Pu. The width of the Ta Pu is 11 to 12 inches lieu of via Shanghai, owing to the saving of (Chinese); that of the Hsiao Pu, 9 inches. freight chiefly, 50,187 piculs ont of a total of There are three qualities-best, middle, and 157,867 piculs going that way. In 1894 only course, and each quality has again its subdivi- cotton piece goods the demand some 7,000 piculs were thus imported. Forsions. The Cloth is generally packed in bales Prices started high, but an exuberant supply making up the cargo of a junk, the native cloth was brisk. containing 40 to 50 pieces or as required. In reset them to their ordinary level, stocks held constitutes the dead weight, and the light cargo in godown are comparatively light" (at the close is of the year). regained their
"American drills and sheetings former predominance, and into prominence; these fabrics of the Eastern Chinese shirtings and sheetings have sprung looms afford an encouraging prospect to an eye inclined to regard the field of industry as a
field for all."
aud after the war.
the
The currency question is most prominent in nearly all the reports and is exercising an im- portant bearing on the Import trade of the country. A few extracts will be interesting to those engaged in this trade. The Hankow Commissioner writes: Unless measures be quickly taken to meet the growing scarcity of cash, great public inconvenience will arise in the near future. Mnch cash was buried for safety during the Taiping Rebellion, and the secretors having been exterminated it is, with trifling and casual exceptions, irretrievably lost. Very little cash has been coined for many years, the population has greatly increased since the Rebellion, and facilities of transport have caused a large development of trade." A few years since a good deal of cash was openly smelted for making brass pots, pipes, etc., as cash was then much cheaper vis-a-vis silver. Severe measures were taken to prevent this illegal pro-
The large increase in the import of cotton ceeding. It is now impossible to find out if the goods to Tientsin is accounted for by
desire of inland dealers to made good the de- practice still obtains to any extent, but the in- creasing value of cash with regard to silver has ficiencies caused by a run on their stocks during probably put a stop to it. Cash are made of
A bad havest of native brass, not copper. Brass is a mixture of about cotton may also have had something to do with Of the goods which grow in im. 60 per cent. copper and 40 per cent. spelter. 1,000 good cash smelted weigh 7 catties; 7 cat-portance American drills and sheetings are ties of brass cost at least 1,330 cash: therefore, if a man wants to make 7 catties of brass pipes he can do so by smelting 1,000 cash, instead of buying copper and spelter for 1,330 cash. Whether this practice is still followed is uncertain, but a saving of 330 cash on 7 catties of brass is a high premium. A few years ago a dollar was worth nearly 1,200 cash. The lowest rate it touched in 1896 was about 240, and signs are not wanting that in the very near future it will be worth a great deal less. Europeans in receipt of salaries paid in silver who a few years ago could save, and entertain reasonable hope of some day retiring, now find it dificult to meet current expenditure, and life is often embittered by the knowledge that this financial stress is not berne in order to secure ultimate repose, but to prolong the sojourn abroad until it leads to old ́age and penury. The cheapness of silver with regard to gold has hitherto almost entirely affected Foreign residents, but now even native servants, who are paid in silver, find their
it,
the most prominent, cotton yarn has almost doubled the preceding years' figures, the Indian and Japanese varieties showing the largest increase. Very little of these yarns go direct to 'Tientsin, but more than 50 per cent. of the English spinnings is shipped direct. The direct trade with Chefoo is also increasing, more than 30 per cent. of the Indian and 20 per cent. of the Japanese yarn reaching it in that way, which must mean loss of freight to the local steamer lines.
mostly made up of bales of the raw cotton. The export of cotton cloth, which, as has been stated above, forms the principal trade of the port, is entirely controlled by the Likin Office Office. and does not come under the cognizance of this
**
The trade here in Foreign piece goods is not very important; it is a retail business. Dealers get their supplies from Hankow and do not keep large stocks. * * "Shasi has the ele- ments for a large manufacturing centre, and it is to be hoped that in no distant future factories, notably cotton mills, may be established here.”
In the Hankow report the following shows that no progress is being made with the native made piece goods, but yarns are increasing:-
During the year under review goods made by the Hupeh Cotton Mill Company were exported in the following quantities: Cotton yarn, 18,868 piculs, against 7,263 piculs in 1895; drills, 1,560 pieces, against 4,255 pieces; and shirtings, 72,980 pieces, against 94,690 pieces."
The large increase in imports of Foreign goods and yarns in Kiukiang is mentioned, but it is pointed out that raw cotton is hardly introduced at all, so that Foreign products must prove satisfactory to the consumers' re- quirements.
The following is an extract from the Chung- king report: The most noticeable feature in the Foreign import trade is the great rise in In the Chinkiang report a rather curious Indian yarn, which reached 166,636 piculs, an statement is made, namely, the scarcity of money increase over the 1895 total of 52,080 piculs. at the latter part of the year is accounted for It is reported that the Hupeh province cotton by "the payment of an instalment of the in- crop sustained great damage from the heavy demnity due to Japan (1) Money became very rains and flooding of the country; hence, in scarce and high rates had to be paid for it. anticipation of short deliveries from that pro- This state of affairs caused several houses to vince, both in raw material and Cloth, the in-close their business, it being impossible to obtain creased demand for Indian yarn.
This yarn,
advances except at a ruinous rate !”.