N
9.10öcan steamers on the Home run continue to increase in size,
Que Corean", steamer visited the port for trading purposes during the year, the first on
soord.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS 'AND
Articles.
...
Beans, Bones,... Coal, ... Cotton yarn and cotton Flour Hemp Kerosene (bulk),
(case)
#4
The notual number of ships of European construction (exclusive of river steamers and steam launches) entering the port during 1901 was 682, being 387 British and 345 foreign, These 682 vessels entered 3,570 times, and gave a total tonnage of 5.555,332 tons. Thus, compared with 1900, 27 less vessels entered 130 more times and gave a total tonnage | Pitch increased by 288,310 tons.
Liquid fuel.. Lead Opium,
...
Rattan, Rice Sandalwood,
The 337 British ships carried 2,569 British officers and 28 forei, n officers, as follows : British, 2,569; Swedish, 4; Danish, 2; | Fulphur Norwegian, 2; German, 5; United States, 15; Total, 2,597.
Sugar,
Tea Timber.
Thus, the proportion of foreign officers in British ships was 107 per cent. comprising 5 | General nationalities; an increase of 0.52 per cent., with
a decrease of ships.
The 345 foreign ships carried 2,336 officers, of whom 218 were British, borne as follows:--In Japanese ships, 120; Chinese, 10; German, 21; United States, 30; Dutch, 27; French, 1"; Russian, 0; Portuguese, 0; total, 213.
The proportion of British officers in foreign ships was, therefore, 933 per cent, distribut d| among 6 nationalities, a deorease of 2.57 per cent. on 1900, with an increase of ships.
Of the crews of British vessels-18.0 per cent. were British, 1.0 percent. other Europeans. and 81.0 per cent. Asiatics. Of the crews of foreign vessels-1.2 per cent. were British 29.0 per cent. other Europeans, and 69.8 per cent. Asiatic. This shows a slight increase of Asiatics, with a corresponding falling off in a proportion of Europeans,
TRADE,
The information under this heading is still less accurate than it might be if greater assistance was given by those from whom the particulars are obtained, and who alone are in a position to afford it. The following returns must, therefore, be received with due allowance for this apparent indifference to
to The principal features _accuracy.
be remarked in the reported trade of the Port for the year 991 are :----
1. A decrease in the coal imports of 12.3
per cent.
2. A decrease in the cotton impo:ts of 278
per cent.
3. A decrease in the rice imports of 8 per cent. 4. A decrease in the timber imports of 18.7
per cent.
5. A decrease in the hemp imports of 42.3
per cent.
6. An increase in the general imports of 9.8
per cent.
Total, Transit,.
Grand Total
· 1900
560
1,045.812 19,993 145,111 54,705
64,732 69,979 2759 2,350 3,194
1901 1,290
T
[April 26, 1902.
of ship's registered tonnage represents only }} cents per cargo ton, or, in other words, it only takes 14 cents of freight to pay 2 cents of 917,144 Harbour dues. A ship whose earnings on w 14,428 round voyage are so mall or so precarious that 145.287 an expenditure of a sum representing less than 31,195 one halfpenny a ton of her freight may make 70,728 an appreciable difference in her balance sheet 77.977 at the termination of her voyage, is not one 3,973 likely to bestow much benefit on this or suy 260 other port, and I venture to think that the 2,872 staying awaying away of such evident pauperism would be a thing rather to be desired than otherwise.
10,204
673,029
3,811
3,488 618,780 5,272
22
55
238,863
6,393 82.311
241,291
1,473 66,860 1,1 2,094 1,278,619
3.604.322 3,480,987 2,143,749 2,134,585
5,748,071 5,615,572
REVENUE.
year was
The total revenue collected by the Har- bour Department during the $251,597 39, being an increase of $5,558.27 on the previous year.
1. Light dnes
$58,375.98 2. Licences and internal revenue... 50,026 30 .143,195.11 3. Fees of court and office
$251,597.39
Total...
STEAM LAUNCHES.
On the 31st December, there were 255 steam launches employed in the Harbonr; of these, 122 were licensed for thin conveyance of pas- saugers, 110 were privately owned, 17 were the property of the Colonial Government, and 6 belonged to the Imperial Government in charge of the Military Authorities.
EMIGRATION.
69,774 emigrants left Hongkong for various places during the year; of these, 44,855 were carried by British ships and 24,919 by foreign ships; 129,030 were reported as having been brought to Hongkong from places to which they had emigrated, and of these, 95,454 were brought in British ships and 33 576 by foreign ships.
SUNDAY CARGO-WORKING. (Ordinance No 6 of 1891.) During the year, 439 permits were issued under the provisions of the Ordinance. Of these, 109 were not availed of owing to its being found unnecessary for the ship to work cargo on the Sunday, and the fee paid for the permit was refunded in each case, and 48 permits were issued, free of charge, to mail steamers. The revenue collected under this heading W88 $44 800; this was $1,250 more than in 1900. The revenue collected each year since the Or- dinance came into force is as follows 1892, $4.800; 1893, $7,000 ; 1894) $13,375; 1895.811,600; 1896, $7,575; 1897, $11,850; 1898, $25,925; 1899, $21,825; 1900, 843,550; 1901, $44,800. The large amount collected for these Sunday The total reported import trade of the Port permits is worthy of remark and especially so for 1901 amounts to 24,687 vessels of 9,014,955 | in connection with the petition of a few years tons, carrying 6,847,285 tons of which ago against the increase of Light Dues, in 4,212,700 tons were discharged at Hong-which the Secretary of State and others were kong. This does not include number, asked to believe that, so precarious is the slip- tonnage, or cargo of local trade junks.. ping trade of this important centre, that a charge Similarly the export trade for 1901 was repre- of 2 cents (Mexican) per registered ton would Bented by 24.593 vessels of 8,975,482 tons carry-"tend to deter vessels from coming to the Port." ing 3,036,907 tons of cargo, and shipping 542,947 tons of bunker coal
7. Also small increases in case and bulk
kerosene, and in liquid fuel,
The net decrease in import cargo is 123,335 tons or 3.4 per cent. In exports there appears to be an increase of 150,823 tons or 7.7 per cent. In transit cargo, a decrease of 9,163 tons or 10.4
cent.
per
SHAMEN,
+4
20,511 sonmen were shipped and 23,189 dis- charged at the Mercantile Marine Office and on Distressed board ships during the year. 192 Seamen
were received during the year. Of these, 69 were sent to the United Kindom, 5 to Sydney, 1 to Vancouver, 2 to Bombay, 3 to Calcutta, 1 to Brisbane, 1 obtained employment on shore, 2 went as passengers to Shanghai, 1 to Melbourne, 2 to Manila, 1 to the United King dom, 1 taken charge of by United States Consul, 4 disappeared, 1 dismissed, 7 died at the Government Civil Hospital, I remained at the Government Civil Hospital, 2 at the Sailors' Home, and 87 obtained employment. $3,888 04 were expended by the Harbour Master on behalf of the Board of Trade in the relief of these distressed seamen, and $207 by the Colopy.
LIGHTHOUSES.
The amount of Light Dues collected is as follows:-No. of ships, 6 861. tonnage, 7,381,661, total fees collected, $58,375,98.
GENERAL.
The Harbour Office is now nearly completely shat in from a view of the Harbour; the pre- paration of the new site goes on slowly.
The problem of providing berthing accom- modation in the Harbour for the ever increasing tonnage frequenting the Port is one that is getting more difficult each year, and though there may not be any very pressing necessity just at present, there can, I think, be no reasonable doubt that, with the constant advance in size, draught, and number, as well of abips-of-war as of the Mercantile Marine, and of foreign as well as British shipping, the water space which, up to the present time has sufficed, will, before many years, be found quite inadequate. The first note of warning has been sounded. Owing to the increase in size and number of His Majesty's ships on the China Station, as well as of the ships-of-war of foreign nations, and to the reclamation to the shore of deep water by the extension of the Naval Yard, the man-of-war anchorage which formerly
accommodated all ships-of-war, British as well as foreign, has recently been found at times insufficient for even our own ships, and the excess has had to be accommo- dated elsen here, and thus while foreign ships- of-war
are still, as formerly, berthed when practicable in the special anchorage, this is frequently found impracticable, and their berths are assigned to them by the Harbour Magter, a course also sometimes rendered necessary in the case of British ships-of-war. The necessity for providing special anchorages for the acct mmodation of ships-of-war, coal ships and ships with gunpowder or dangerous goods, as well as for keeping three fairways clear for the passage of ships through the Harbour, curtails very much the available deep water space, and, in order to provide further berthing room without extending the anchorage to an inconvenient distance East and West, the question of deepening the comparatively shallow area lying between Yaumati and Stone- cutters' Island, and of removing the shoal patches off Quarry Bay and in some other parts of Harbour, will have to be seriously considered, and probably a system of more or less constant dredging provided for. The water ares within the Harbour limits comprises approximately 7 square miles; of this and that the benefit to be derived thereby is › bout one-balf is of a less depth than 44 fathoms not so small as to be influenced by the payment at low water; fairways and special anchorages of dues even exceeding the paltry 2 cents take up another 14 square miles, leaving only 24 above referred to. It must be remembered square miles of deep water available for the very that while dues are paid per ton of ship's large and constantly increasing amount of ship- register, freight is pharged usually par ping trading to the Port, and although a'depth ton of cubic measurement and that approof fathoms may seem an excessive require- | ximately a ship carries 1.875 of her regis-ment to-day, there is a universal tendency to-- tered tonnage: 24 cents therefore per ion wards larger sud deeper draughted ships, and it
Now what do we see? That since 1897 (the year of the petition) the amount paid for Sun- During the year 1901, 10,807 vessels of day permits has increased year by year until European constraction of 14 559,06) tons (net in 19 1, in addition to the $58,375 paid by register) reported having carried 8,242,572 shipping for Light Dues at the rate of one cent tons of cargo, as follows:- Import cargo, per registered ton, we have a contribution of 3,480,987; export cargo, 2,084,053, transit $44,800 from 282 ships aggregating 466,802 cargo, 2134,585; bunker coal shipped, 542.947, tons, or at the rate of 9 6/10 cents a registered The total number of tons carriet was, there- ton, for the benefit of one day's work in the fore, 56.6 per cent. of the total register tonnage discharge or shipment of cargo. It is evident (or 71.4 per cent, exclusive of tiver steamers) from this, I think, that there still remains some and was apportioned as follows:-Imports-inducement for ships to come to Hongkong, British ships. 1,863,586; foreign ships, 1,615,401; total, 8,480,987. Exports British ships, 1,230,842; for eigu ships, 853.211; total, 2,084,053. Transit British ships-1,162,192; foreign ships, 972,393, total, 2,134,585. Bunker coal-British ships, 257,743; foreign ships; 285,204; total, 542,947. Making a grand total of 8,242,572
A comparison of imports in 19.0 and 1901 works out as follows ---
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