14
Emigration and Immigration.
One hundred and forty thousand, five hundred and thirty-four (140,534) emigrants left Hong Kong for various places during the year 1925, (129,859 in 1924). Of these, 85,586 were carried in British ships, and 54,948 in foreign ships.
Ninety-one thousand, six hundred and twenty-two (91,622) returning emigrants were reported to have been brought to Hong Kong from the several places to which they had emigrated either from this colony or from coast ports, as against 130,194 in 1924. Of these, 51,760 arrived in British ships, and 39,862 in foreign ships.
Statement of number of emigrants to Straits Settlements, 1914 to 1925, compared with total Chinese emigration.
No. of Emigrants Straits Settlements. Total No. of Emigrants. 1914 44,974 76,296 1915 68,275 117,653 1916 41,278 63,292 1917 82,797 96,298 1918 ... 8,019 1919 87,324 156,011 1920 50,356 98,393 1921 65,584 120,224 1922 43,935 75,682 1923 105,258 129,859 1924 97,552 129,859 1925 75,682 140,534(b.)-INDUSTRIES.
Sugar. The course of prices during the early part of the year was based on the expectation that the 1924-25 Cuban crop would outturn a figure somewhere between 4,300,000 tons and 4,725,000 tons, with a large part of the Trade being of the opinion that the latter figure would prove to be the maximum. Even when the production in Cuba indicated that 4,725,000 tons would be a minimum, for quite a long period many members of the Sugar industry throughout the world could not get themselves to believe that a record breaking crop as to size was being manufactured in Cuba and thought that a crop of 5 million tons would be an impossibility.
The final outturn of the 1924-25 Cuban crop was 5,125,970 tons, a burden that was quite too heavy for sugar prices to bear, as a result of which the trend in prices of raw sugar was in a downward direction from April to the end of October.