2
growth. In the streets there is more activity, the shops are brighter and more attractive, building is going on both in the residential and commercial quarters, and the era of speculation and reckless extravagance which has characterised Harbin since the conclusion of hostilities now seems to have given way to a more normal and businesslike method of living.
Although up to the present no new enterprises have been started, I am informed that there is a considerable quantity of capital awaiting employment, which, I was given to understand, would mainly be devoted to the establishment of bean-oil factories. The sugar-beet factory at Asiho, 10 miles from Harbin, the erection of which was delayed for over a year owing to difficulty in finding funds, has now been completed, and two other similar factories are in course of erection at Harbin.
In this connection I would remark that certain Japanese have also been experimenting with beet at Chang Ch'un, and the analysis of the root made by the experimental laboratory established by the South Manchuria Railway at Dairen is reported to be very satisfactory. It thus seems possible that there may be considerable development in this industry in North Manchuria.
The flour-mills which were established at Harbin during the Russo-Japanese war for the purpose of supplying the necessities of the Russian troops are not up to the present proving a success. During the year 1907 the Russo-Chinese Bank foreclosed on the mortgages it held on the eight principal mills and a new syndicate was formed, but at the present only three out of the eight mills are working. Without further information than I have at present, it is difficult to account for the comparative failure of these mills; there is a large quantity of wheat grown in the district and a considerable export of the raw product, and it seems to me almost impossible to believe that this industry, if properly conducted, will not ultimately play its part in the development of the district.
It is practically an impossibility to arrive at the exact value of the trade of the town of Harbin, but it is undoubtedly the chief distributing centre of Northern Manchuria, and an examination of the trade statistics published by the Chinese Customs for the stations of Manchouli on the western, and of Sui-fen Ho on the eastern frontier, may prove of assistance in showing the importance of the trade of the district taken as a whole.
In the year 1908 the figures show a net import of 2,852,551 Haikwan taels, and a net export of 977,231 Haikwan taels via Manchouli. The imports are for the most part of Russian or German origin, and apparently are destined in the main for the Consumption of the Russian inhabitants of Northern Manchuria,
The following table shows the quantity or value, as given by the customs returns, of the principal articles :-
Cotton-
Piece-goods
Goods, unclassed
Woollen-
Cloth
Blankets
Cigarettes
Clothing, foreign
MANCHOULI.
PRINCIPAL Imports during 1908.
12,740 pieces.
121,816 yards.
20,473 yards.
52,444 lbs.
3
The following tables show the value or quantity of the chief articles of export and import :-
Cotton-
Piece-goods
Cloth
Towels
Woollen-
Carriages
SUIFENHO.
TABLE of principal Imports during 1908.
::: :::
77,897 pieces.
417,184 yards. 14,942 dozen
308,858 yards.
8.974 İhs.
28,475 piculs.
588,446 pieces.
1,608,846
26,206 Haikwan taela.
Cloth
Blankets
Pig-iron
Bags--
Cotton
Gunny
(value)]
Cigarettes..
13
96,433
Haberdashery, &c.
46,052
38.912
11
11
goods.
20.293
Kerosene, Russian Salt Spirits
Stores, household
Sugar
Hardware India-rubber Machinery..
Oil, engine
Tea
Wines
Bean-cake
Beans and peas
(value)
41,165
きら
182,326 gallous.
1,029.385
77.541 piculs.
134.782 Iaikwan taels.
66.127
14,000 piculs,
11
5,435
79,354 Haikwan taels.
PRINCIPAL Exports during 1908.
555,330 piculs. 1,110,339
414,361 7,559.947 17
253975
-
55
67.811 head.
69.093 piculs.
Cereals: Barley, buckwheat, Kaoliang maize, millet, cats,
rye, wheat
Firewood Flour and wheat
Live-stock: Fowls, ducks, &c., horses, ponies, oxen, cows,
pigs, and sheep
Oil: bean and hemp
Meat, fresh: beef, mutton, and pork
Railway sleepers
Tar
Timber-
Soft wood, beams
laths
planks
Hard woud, beanis
planks
B
poles
8,831
103,418 pieces.
28,850 gallons.
6,453,519 cubic feet.
3,987,466 piecos
3,913,803 super feet. 7,883 cubic feet. 29.150
5,700
31
475,761 mille.
70,564 Haikwan taols,
(valne)
Confectionery
17,063
Haberdashery, &c.
17,262
J
።
Hardware
13
38,367
1
Machinery..
21,891
19
>
Shoes and boots, all sorts, foreign
128,102 pairs.
(value)
Timber and planks, soft wood
Skin (fur) clothing
Spirits of wine
98,578 Haikwan taels.
404,639 gallons.
451,038 square feet.
The chief export to Europe by this route are skins, flour from the Harbin mills, and hemp oil; 487,797 pieces of skins were exported, of which 238,479 were sheep, and 210,221 were tarabagan. Only 920 pieces of sable are recorded.
The flour export amounted to 115,470 piculs, and the hemp oil to 10,273 piculs. (One picul 133 lbs.).
The trade of Sui Fen Ho, or Pogranichnaya as it is called by the Russians, is, however, far more important, the net value for 1908 amounting to 11,985,705 taels, of which 3,481,296 taels were imports, and 8,504,409 taels exports.
The total value of the trade across the Russian frontiers thus amounts to 15,815,490 Haikwan taels, but in addition to this there is the import arriving at Harbin from the south, either by the branch of the Chinese Eastern Railway from No figures are available to check these Chang Ch'un to Harbin or by Chinese cart. imports, but I do not think 3,000,000 Haikwan taels would be an unreasonable estimate.
The policy of the Chinese Eastern Railway has hitherto been to discourage import via Chang Ch'un, in favour of Vladivostock, and the rates charged are so high that it is cheaper to carry from Chang Chun to Harbin by cart than by rail. The average freight by rail from Newchwang to Chang Ch'un by the South Manchurian Railway, a distance of 300 miles, say 173. a-ton, is approximately equal to the amount charged by the Chinese Eastern Railway for carriage from Chang Ch'un to larbin, a distance of only 140 miles. Consequently goods are brought up to Chang Ch'un from Dairon and Newehwang by the South Manchurian Railway and forwarded on by Chinese cart, this method being apparently economically competitive as against ship- ment from Shanghae to Vladivostock and rail thence to Ilarbin.
The general trade of Northern Manchuria which even in 1908 can be estimated at a value of 20,000,000 Haikwan taels, received however an enormous stimulus towards the end of that year from the export of the soya beans to Europe, and as the
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