Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841–1941
REPORTS EXHIBITING THE PAST AND PRESENT
Enclosure in No. 38.
REMARKS upon the present state of Native Trade with the Colony of Hong-Kong,
The obstacles which our commercial intercourse with China has to encounter ought to be pointed out, to effect in some measure the removal.
1. From 1839 until now, there has been piracy along the whole coast; and, though the outlaws remained at times quiet, they very soon appeared again, to strike terror in the peaceful merchant junks. This evil does not merely exist in the neighbourhood of Canton, but extends as far as Teintsin, and is most fearful on the coast of Fokien.
The principal entrances to Hong-Kong are through narrow passages, where the ruffians can lie in wait, and pounce upon their victims with great rapidity. They have at Victoria their spies, who give them correct information about every vessel that has a valuable cargo on board, and the moment she leaves, these boats prowl about to lay hold of her, and plunder her entirely. The pirates themselves come most from the neighbourhood of Whampon; some cruise about in fishing-smacks of a peculiar build, so as to outsail other craft; but most of them are long rowing crafts, and several carry a letter of marque. It is very difficult to distinguish them from ordinary vessels; and when pursued, they adopt many stratagems to prevent their discovery, and generally know well to manage so as to elude the arm of justice.
The traders that come from the adjacent islands—from Canton, Tungkwan, &c.—have compounded with the buccaneers, paying them a certain sum as black mail, for which they obtain liberty to navigate the seas without molestation; but the eastern passage, towards Ly-yu-moon, is at present very much infested by these depredators. They are there also more murderous than amongst the islands, and do very much mischief. The trading junks dare not leave this harbour, unless they have a strong breeze, and can depart in a large squadron. Many, therefore, are here detained a considerable time, and are ultimately, after all "precautions, nevertheless plundered. Such occurrences have, during the present month, been very numerous; whilst in some of the previous ones no similar losses took place.
We need not observe that our trade, on account of this insecurity, is much curtailed. The vessels that used to come from Kityön and Haoyën, and took full cargoes in this harbour, often amounting to 30-40,000 dollars in value, have suffered so repeatedly as almost to drive them away entirely; and where there were formerly three or five, we have now only one.
This evil is very inveterate, and it is difficult to suggest an effective remedy which would put a stop to it, and the more so as the Chinese government will not avail itself of our co-operation. Could one believe the sufferers when they pointed out their assailants, or discover, with sufficient proofs for conviction, their haunts, the matter would be very easy; long before, however, any force can arrive, they are gone, and there are so many harbours and hiding-places for these robbers, that it would require much local knowledge and good information to apprehend them. But as the Chinese government, on account of possessing better means for obtaining knowledge of the perpetrators, is perfectly competent to bring them to condign punishment, the constant recurrence of piracy, if duly reported to the supreme government, and the most urgent and often-reiterated requests, to put these nefarious wretches down with a high hand, might rouse it from its slumbers and indifference. Some vessels of ours, fitted out in the Chinese way, might cruise about at the Kapsing and Ly-yu-moon with great advantage.
2. The supplementary treaty, which stipulated that junks should only clear out from the harbours open to our trade, has fortunately not been carried into force. However, the very fact that four emporia, besides Canton, are accessible to our traders, with the many intermediate stations on the coast, makes it extremely easy for junks to go to the nearest spot, and buy there nearly as cheap as the article can be sold at Canton, without risk of shipwreck or pirates, and with a speedy return of their capital. To attract, therefore, the junk trade to Hong-Kong is beyond the range of possibility, and neither regulations nor orders could effect this; so long as the other ports are open, and the British merchant can ship whatever he pleases, and go to the market which will answer his expectations best. The trade reasonably to be expected is a transit one, by vessels that wish to go to any of the northern and southern ports, and touch here on their way.
3. A more formidable obstacle is, that Chinese imports, in considerable quantity, are seldom saleable at Hong Kong. Teas were at first brought here in lots of 100 to 600 chests by sea-going junks.
But there is not a single instance on record that it could be disposed of to any advantage; on the contrary, it has entailed, in all cases, a heavy loss, and it has been given over to the shopkeepers, to get rid of it as they best could. The last adventure of this description was a cargo from the Bohea Hills, in a British vessel, which arrived from Amoy. This speculation ended still more tragically. Not only had the article to be sold by auction at a very reduced rate, under prime cost, but the parties got themselves into a lawsuit, and were involved in irretrievable difficulties, so that the whole ended in ruin. The reason given for the unfortunate issue of similar enterprises is, that the teas are not suited to our markets, and that our own merchants, having given their order to the various agents in the ports, care not for making additional and trifling purchases. Another article brought by junks is alum, which is occasionally saleable; but the greater part cannot be disposed of at Hong-Kong, and goes either to Canton or even to Macao.
Camphor fetches sometimes a fair price, but many vessels that bring their cargoes here find no purchasers.
These are the staple goods, for the disposal of which no encouragement has yet been given, and the commerce on that account is very languid.
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