CHINA AND ITS OPEN PORTS.
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from Hongkong to Great Britain and Ireland, and of the imports of British and Irish produce and manufacture into Hongkong,, in each of the five years 1870 to 1874:-
Years.
Exports from Hongkong to Great Britain.
1870
£281,159
1871
367,944
1872
833,764
1873
783,475
1874
747,291
Imports of British Produce into Hongkong.
£3,407,930
2,787,714
2,872,673
3,411,968
3,650,963
The chief article of export from Hongkong to Great Britain in the year 1874 was tea, of the value of £392,912. The British imports into Hongkong consist almost entirely of manufactured textile fabrics, mainly cotton goods, in transit for China.
The subjoined table gives the value of the imports of British and Irish produce and manufactures from 1865 to 1874, exhibiting separately the imports into China and into Hongkong, and jointly to both, so as to show the share of Hongkong in Chinese commerce during the period of ten years :-
Years.
Imports of British Produce
Imports of British Produce into Hongkong.
Total into China and Hongkong.
into China.
1865
£9,608,595
£1,548,698
£5,152,293
1866
5,090,074
2,387,017
7,477,091
1867
4,996,469
2,471,809
7,468,278
1868
6,312,175
2,185,972
8,498.147
1869
6,842,840
2,130,837
8,973,677
1870
6,139,633
3,407,930
9,547,563
1871
6,628,236
2,787,714
9.415,950
1872
6,624,511
2,872,673
9,497,184
1873
4,882,701
3,411,968
8,294,669
1874
4,751, 03
3,650,963
8,402,066
It will be seen that the British trade with Hongkong underwent great fluctuationa in the ten years from 1865 to 1874, but which corresponded throughout with the general Chinese commerce, differing only in so far as showing but a slight increase in the value of the British imports coming direct to China during this period, and about a doubling in those arriving by way of Hongkong.-Office List, and Year Book.
The shores of Hongkong are indented by numerous bays, of which the most considerable are on its south-east shore. There is good anchorage throughout the entire channel between the island and the main, except in the Ly-ee-moon Pass, where the water is deep; but the best anchorage is in Hongkong Roads, in front of the Settlement, where the depth is from 5 to 9 fathoms, over good holding ground. During the Typhoon months the anchorage in the northern part of the roads is considered preferable, in consequence of the shelter afforded by Kowloon peninsula to the north- east, the point from which the wind blows hardest. The inner anchorage in Victoria Bay is in 6 and 7 fathoms water, about half a mile off shore, abreast the ordinance jetty, where a vessel will be sheltered from the eastward by Kellett's Island and the rocks off east or Matheson Point, and be out of the strength of the tide.
Tides. It is high water, full and change, in Hongkong Roads at 10h. 15m., and springs rise about 4 feet. The tides around the island are irregular, flowing and ebbing without any apparent change of direction at the surface, and sometimes there appears to be only one tide in 24 hours.
Directions.-Hongkong Roads are generally approached by sailing vessels from the westward, on which side it is protected by Green Island and Kellett Bank, which extends nearly 14 miles northward from the latter island, and carries a depth of 31 ·