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"Manchurian flour has appeared on the market here as well as anywhere else in Manchuria, and that very much so. The Japanese mill in Tiehling are selling, here in Dalny, at 10 sen cheaper than the Americans, and their stuff is much liked by the Chinese. Shan Cheong and other dealers in American flour are complaining that through this new competition they are having a very hard time of it. The Russians in Charbin are nowhere although they could beat the Japanese hands down, if they only had a somewhat decent organization and were a little bit livelier."
I venture to hope that this précis may be of some little use, comparison with our own Reports.
if only for purposes of
I have, &c. (Signed)
HAROLD G. PARLETT.
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Report on North Manchuria.
General Remarks.
NORTH Manchuria, which comprises the Viceroyalties of Kilin and the Amur, has an area of well over 300,000 square miles. Four-fifths of this are occupied by mountains, forests, lakes, deserts, and townships, the remaining fifth is certainly suitable for agricultural purposes. Of this fifth about 19,000 square miles are actually under cultivation."
The population of the territory is probably about 7,700,000 (Kikin, 5,200,000; the Amur, 2,500,000). Originally the Manchurians proper congregated mostly in the Kikin Viceroyalty and Mongolians in the Amur; but of recent years there has been a tremendous influx of Chinese, owing to the development of the country consequent on Russian undertakings. The result is that the Manchurian is gradually dis- appearing.
Industries.
Agriculture is the industry of North Manchuria, all others are subordinate to and dependent on it. The average production is about 23-24 bushels per acre and the total for the whole country something in the vicinity of 177,000,000 bushels.* The richest districts are the Sungari Valley and the neighbourhood of Changchun and Kilin. Development in these regions has been very rapid of late years owing to Russian expansion and to the war. The former, represented by the railway, attracted vast numbers of Chinese settlers, while the needs of the Russian troops created markets; the war itself increased these numbers by fugitives from the south.
The chief exports are naturally agricultural products; imports are represented mainly by cotton cloth, cotton yarns, and raw cotton.
Agricultural products are wheat, flour, beans, and bean-cake, with cereals generally. Flour, which is produced by the Russians along the railway line, is at present used mostly by the settlers and the troops, though a very fair quantity has found its way into the Amur Province. Japan's import of bean-cake, which once travelled by way of Newchwang, now goes through Vladivostock. Imports of cotton goods, &c., come mostly via Newchwang, and there are signs that Japan is driving her American and other foreign competitors out of this trade.
In addition to cotton goods there is quite a demand for the cheaper forms of Japanese earthenware and for matches. The fancy and miscellaneous goods trade is mainly in the hands of the Germans; Russian goods are only seen along the railway and in the Russian settlements.
Among mechanical industries the only ones worthy of notice are flour-mills, distilleries, breweries, and bean-cake mills. There are about twenty flour-mills, almost all Russian owned and in the neighbourhood of Kharbin. Their total maximum
* There is some discrepancy here. If the yield be 23 bushels per acre the total for 19,000 square miles should be about 290,000,000 bushels.
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output for twenty-four hours is estimated at 73,000 pouds. The flour itself is of good quality.
Breweries and distilleries, Russian as distinct from Chinese, are small in size compared with the flour-mills, the demand for spirits being mostly in the neighbour- hood of the railway settlements.
Experiments have been made in the cultivation of the sugar-beet with such excellent results that there is talk of establishing a large beetroot sugar factory.
Among native industries bean-oil mills and distilleries are the chief. The sale of spirits is by law limited to the area within the palisade of the three eastern provinces, but such is the demand among the Chinese that there is no town or village of any pretensions without a distillery. Bean-oil mills are run by individual enterprise, the oil itself being either used for local needs or exported to the south. Native grain- mills, generally managed in connection with some other farming enterprise, have suffered a good deal from the establishment of the Russian flour-mills, and now no longer do more than supply a purely local demand.
Communications are naturally mostly by river or road. The Sungari River, with its tributaries, is the chief waterway; but as its course is very winding, in many places obstructed by shallows and sandbanks, and as the stream itself varies in volume, being at times in some places only 2 feet deep, it is obvious that many improvements will have to be made if full advantage is to be taken of the river.
By the Aigun Treaty of 1858 China and Russia alone were allowed the right of navigation on the Sungari. The result was the placing by the Russians of steamers on the river. For a time these did quite a good business in the transport of building material, provisions, &c.; but the war, and the subsequent unwillingness of Russian merchants to have anything more to do with this part of Manchuria, has resulted in the decay of the water-borne trade. Of this the Chinese have been quick to take advantage. Not only have they numbers of junks on the river, but many of the steamers also are in their hands; and, not satisfied with the navigation of the Sungari alone, they have pushed on to that of the Amur. It is believed that on the Sungari and its tributaries there must be a fleet of 600 or 700 Chinese junks.* Nevertheless, it is unlikely that the junk trade will increase very much; the winding nature of the river and its actual unsuitability for junk traffic cause too many delays in the transport of goods ever to make junks successful.
The most important channel of communication by road is of course the Chinese Eastern Railway. It is no exaggeration to say that to it alone is due the recent rapid development of Manchuria. There is, in fact, not a single branch of industry which has not been favourably affected by its existence.
Next to the railroad as a means of communication comes the Manchurian country cart. It is of universal use, and, if Russian figures are credible, there must be about 53,000 of these vehicles in the country.
The chief high roads are from--
1. Sanchan, via Paivangmu, Pinchangting, to Harbin.
2. Pinchangting, via A-shih-ho, Shuangchengpu, Nangngancheng, Changchun,
Mukden, &c., to Newchwang.
3. Petanlintzu, viâ Hulan, to Harbin.
4. Hulan, viâ Tsitsihar, to Aigun.
5. A-shih-ho or Shuangchengpu, við Lalin, to Kilin.
6. Kilin, via Omoso, to Gunchun.
7. Kilin, via Ninguta, to Poltauka.
8. Kilin to Petune.
9. Kilin to Mukden.
10. Tsitsihar, viâ Petune, to Changchun.
For the transport of foreign goods Nos. 1, 2, 3, 9, and 10 are most important; the others are local trade routes. All alike are virtually impassable during the summer rains and when the thaw sets in in spring, but good in autumn and winter.
The only industry in Manchuria which is in any sense of the word developed is agriculture. All others are in their infancy and await improvement. Particularly is this the case with mining, which, unless a few gold mines be taken into account, virtually does not exist. But when things are on a satisfactory footing we may expect to see a complete revolution in the Far-Eastern economic world.
* From Russian statistics. Mr. Kawakami's own estimate on p. 16 is very different.
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