い
7
TABLE III.
Imports from Western China (in tens of Rupees).
Year,
Raw
Silk.
Orpi-
ment,
I'ro- Living
visions. Animals.
Hides,
Ilocos,
&c.
Fibrous
Products. of
Metala and Manu- factures
Manu- Other
dise.
factured Merchan-Treasure. Total.
Silk,
Metals.
9
most striking upward movement is in tea. Oilseeds are increasing, while hides and horns, lac, and miscellaneous un-manufactured goods have fluctuated considerably with a downward tendency. The trade in timber was Rx. 21,000 in 1896-97, the first year of its registration. In 1897-98 treasure was about one-fourth of the export and also of the import trade.
549
560
TABLE VI.
Exports to the South Shan States (in tens of Rupees).
1890-1 34,210 5,244 2,031
3,228 1991-2 29,250 3,545 2,234 336 4,516 1992-3 31,850 3,366 3,021 1,347 3,253 1893-4 79,087 8.513
7,714 4,978 0,134 2,741 1894-5 68,185 7,019 8,073 2,600 4,214 3,448 3895-6 42,438 8,737 4,866 1,372 2,574 3,820 1896-7 41,587 8,116 6,790 9,955 4,330 6,048 1,764 1897-8 26,913 6,801 3,028 4,458 2,287 2,830 2,711
225
735 2,048 690 1,132 349 1,276
600 5,111
Cotton Twist Cotton Piece
aud Yarn.
Goods.
0
58,435
0
4,633
0
46,386
Year.
0
5,870
11,510 €2,042
Pro-
visions,
Sult. Spices.
2,868 4,565 7,316
5,780
19,506
34,349 171,565
517
16,825
113,701 229,207
Euro- paza.
Indian.
Euro- pean.
Metals And Manu- fac- Lures
Wool-
Manu-
fac-
Jen
tonred
Goods,
Silk.
Indian.
of.
0
15,984
150 20,852
0 15,507
46,413133,320 55,419 155,010 83,418 147,853
1890-1
No details.
Other
dise (mainly
manufactured).
Merchan
Trea-
sure,
Total.
7,793 28,121
The direct trade with China is mainly carried on by the route from Bhamo vid Momien (Tengyueh) and Yungchang-Fu to Tali-Fu. Of the merchandise exported, cotton, raw and manufactured, is by far the most important, constituting Rx. 179,000 out of Rx. 209,000 of merchandise exported in 1897-98. Raw cotton no longer bears so large a proportion to the total merchandise exported as it did in earlier years. On the other hand, cotton twist and yarn and cotton piece goods bear a much larger proportion than formerly. It is necessary to distinguish Indian and European manufactures. European yarn has progressed slowly, but without attaining an important amount, while Indian yarn has advanced with astonishing rapidity from Rx. 17,000 in 1895-96 to Rx. 58,000 in 1896-97, and Rx. 69,000 in 1897-98. It is stated that this increased demand is due to the progress of native calico-weaving in the Tali-Fu district. With cotton piece goods the story is reversed. While Indian piece goods tend to decline, European articles have tended upwards, though the returns for 1897-98 are much less favourable than those for the previous four years. In comparison with cotton, other exports to China are of small value. Manufactured silk and woollen goods have fluctuated considerably. In 1893 the prohibition against the impor- tation of salt into China was removed in the districts up to Momien in consideration of the payment of certain annual dues, and exports of salt have consequently risen since that date. The miscellaneous exports include betel nuts, salt fish, pocket knives, steel, needles, thread, worsted, embroidery, velvet, mirrors, matches, tinned milk, and umbrellas.
Among imported commodities raw silk takes the foremost place, con- stituting more than one-half of the total trade in merchandise until 1895-96, when a falling off began. Of other imports orpiment, provisions, hides and horns, and fibrous products are the most promising, Miscellaneous imports comprise brass gongs and pots, irou cauldrons, straw hats, paper, hains, musk, fur coats, walnuts, china root, coptis root, &c.
The statistical reports state that the figures for treasure are incomplete and untrustworthy. In 1894-95 both the imports and exports of treasure were abnormal. The influx of Rx. 114,000, nearly one half of the total imports, was, however, largely counterbalanced by the efflux to China, and the net import did not differ much from the average. These movements of gold and silver have not been explained in the trade reports, but they are probably connected partly with the China-Japan war, and partly with the monetary dealings that ensued upon the closure of the Indian mints. In 1894-95 the gold imported was Rx. 32,000, and in 1895-96, Rx. 15,000. Gold is said to be mainly required for the gilding of Buddhist pagodas in Burma.
1891-2 1,146 193 2,069 1892-3 8,45-1 1,435 31,384 1693-4 4,138 1,218 28,480 1994-5 9,555 5,758 77.298 16,412 81,559 5,290 121,392 7,162 129,519
1895-6 5,713 1896-714,643 1897-823,014
48 2,982 | 4,316| 1,430) 140 19 11,689 5,456 0,551|1.379 344 16,740 5,787 11,188 728 1,980 24,509 18,448|20,723 2,132 3,711 27,329 |18,607 | 18,302| 5,438 5,437 34,209 (15,134 | 20,102) 6,578 8,000 36,194 18,006 | 23,926) 8,429
TABLE VII.
655 1,632 1,495
4,390 7,933 6,146
2,638 6,505 25,821
6,578
29,785 112,295
5,340
32,832 108,881
49,600 266,310
3,765 | 30,543 | 23,795 4,184 28,08146,110
72,385 327,811
6,515 59,010 47,943 114,374 450,826 6,793 64,198 | 43,814 97,696 462,851
Imports from the South Shan States (in tens of Rupees).
Other
Year.
Living
Animals.
Provisions. Fruits, &e.
Lac,
Paints, &c.
Timber.
Merchan- dise (mainly
Treasure. Total.
иптапи-
factured).
1890-1
No details.
1891-9
1,046
1.088
954
697
477
19.367
1892-3
4,371
4,348
4,624
13,149
2,130
1693-4
16,297
4,149
5,206
10,169
3,073
1894-5 25,278
3,376
11,812
22,131
2,610
7,472 18,397 2,452 20,081 64,359 17,267 110,234 57.837 17,672 114,096 98,884 120,676
284,765
1895-6 19,359 1896-7 47,591 1897-8 64,754
4,175
15,511
36,667
3,678
5,011 15,461 12,761 4,662 22,412 12,483
4,092 109,772 8,796
123.488 159,713 477,969 81,369 129,889 149,245 473,610
88.958 107,469 276,111
The statistics of trade between Burma and the South Shan States are of more doubtful importance for the purposes of this paper. But as the registration stations of Myittha and Pyawbwé take account of trade with both Western China and the South Shan States, it is tolerably safe to assume that a portion of the trade with the latter, not entirely negligible, passes through to China. Moreover, according to the Shan States Administration Report for 1889-90, Kengtung serves as an emporium for Burma-China trade, English goods (silk stuffs, long cloth, Turkey reds, dyes, knives, &c.) in the bazaars being bought almost exclusively by the Chinese, who sell in exchange hats, raw silk, orpiment, salt, &c. Many merchants make several trips a year between China and Kengtung, for though there are high hills the whole way, the slopes are said to be easy. The quantity and variety of goods on sale at Kengtung were stated to be much greater than in any other bazaar in the Shan States. "The surest way," it is remarked in this Report, "to secure the Yunnan trade would be for an enterprising "merchant to depute an agent to accompany a returning caravan to "Yunnan-Fu, whence he could visit the merchants of Tali-Fu, Yungchang- The only "Fu, Tungchuan-Fu, Talang, and other trading towns." important Shan product that finds a market in China is raw cotton, which is largely exported thither. In the Burma trade with the South Shan States cotton goods form the chief branch of the export trade. Manufactured silk, provisions, salt, and spices have assumed an important position. Among
6531.
C
Trade with South Shau States.