192
12
Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
COLONIAL REPORTS-ANNUAL.
The opium exports of 1898 represent, in piculs*, a total of 43,142,525.
The year 1898 was marked by a considerable increase in the dealings in rice and coal, and by the introduction of the trade in bulk oil from Langkat (Sumatra). The large dealings in rice were due to local famines in the Kwangtung and neighbouring provinces, and those in coal were due partly to the ordinary increase in shipping traffic and the growth of manufacturing industry in the Colony, and partly to the large purchases made by foreign Governments during the period of impending war.
The import trade of the Colony was increased, during 1898, from all parts of the world; and this increase amounted in the aggregate to 659,833 tons of cargo discharged. The cargo in transit was during the same period advanced by 167,860 tons. In exports generally there was an increase of 1,205 ships and 229,151 tons of cargo.
The junk trade has naturally not increased with the same rapidity as that conducted by European vessels. The circumstances of a free port, added to the difficulty of identifying and distinguishing native craft, and Chinese proficiency in evasion, make it extremely hard to keep an absolutely true return of some 50,000 or 60,000 junks, and it is probable that a number of these junks come and go without leaving any trace on our records. The following extract from the Chinese Imperial Customs Report for 1898 gives the following figures as representing, in Mexican dollars, the value of the Hong Kong junk trade for the year under review, and the number of junks entered and cleared :-
Imports from Hong Kong. Exports to Hong Kong. Total. Number of Junks entered. Number of Junks cleared. $ 33,190,202.13 33,992,383.12 67,182,585.25 30,217 30,212In addition to these, 5,379 fishing junks were licensed.
(B.) MINES, MANUFACTURES, AND FISHERIES.
Mines.-The only mining done in the Colony at present is in granite. Some silver and tin have been discovered, but not in paying quantities. In past years a considerable sum was expended in a silver mine on the Island of Lantao; but the mine was afterwards abandoned.
* One picul = 133 lbs.
192
12
Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
COLONIAL REPORTS-ANNUAL.
The opium exports of 1898 represent, in piculs*, a total of 43,142,525.
The year 1898 was marked by a considerable increase in the dealings in rice and coal, and by the introduction of the trade in bulk oil from Langkat (Sumatra). The large dealings in rice were due to local famines in the Kwangtung and neighbouring provinces, and those in coal were due partly to the ordinary increase in shipping traffic and the growth of manufacturing industry in the Colony, and partly to the large purchases made by foreign Governments during the period of impending war.
The import trade of the Colony was increased, during 1898, from all parts of the world; and this increase amounted in the aggregate to 659,833 tons of cargo discharged. The cargo in transit was during the same period advanced by 167,860 tons. In exports generally there was an increase of 1,205 ships and 229,151 tons of cargo.
The junk trade has naturally not increased with the same rapidity as that conducted by European vessels. The circum- stances of a free port, added to the difficulty of identifying and distinguishing native craft, and Chinese proficiency in evasion, make it extremely hard to keep an absolutely true return of some 50,000 or 60,000 junks, and it is probable that a number of these junks come and go without leaving any trace on our records. The following extract from the Chinese Imperial Customs Report for 1898 gives the following figures as representing, in Mexican dollars, the value of the Hong Kong junk trade for the year under review, and the number of junks entered and cleared :-
Imports from Hong Kong.
Exports to
Total.
Hong Kong.
Number of Junks entered.
Number of Junks cleared.
$
33,190,202.13 33,992,383.12 | 67,182,585.25 30,217
In addition to these, 5,379 fishing junks were licensed.
30,212
(B.) MINES, MANUFACTURES, AND FISHERIES.
Mines.-The only mining done in the Colony at present is in granite. Some silver and tin have been discovered, by not in paying quantities.
quantities. In past years a considerable sum was expended in a silver mine on the Island of Lantao; but the mine was afterwards abandoned.
* One picul 133 lbs.
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