善
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[December 20.]
SECTION 2.
53
[46137]
(No. 416.)
Sir,
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.~{Received December 20.)
Peking, December 2, 1909.
I HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith copy of a report by Mr. Willis, His Majesty's acting consul-general at Mukden, on the commercial conditions of North Manchuria as they presented themselves to him during a visit which he recently paid to Harbin and Chang-ch'un.
The Customs trade statisties quoted by Mr. Willis show that the trade across the Russian frontier has already attained the respectable figure of 15,815,400 tacis, and the normal trade of North Manchuria, which is estimated at 20,000,000 tacls a-year, is now undergoing an almost phenomenal increase.
The export of soya beans, which up to 1908 does not seem to have exceeded 120,000 tons annually, has suddenly jumped to some 700,000 or 800,000 tous in that year, and there can be little doubt that the supply will soon reach the figure of 1,000,000 tons, which represents the estimated demand of the European market.
The trade, which was at first largely the monopoly of the Japanese, is now keenly contested by British and German firms, with whom the Chinese seem to be acting in co-operation.
There can be no doubt that, as Mr. Willis points out, the present conditions of trade in Northern Manchuria fully warrant the appointment of a consular officer at Harbin; and in conformity with the authority contained in your despatch No. 324 of the 30th October last, Mr. Sly, lately vice-consul at Chungking, has been instructed to proceed to that post.
Feb.
Inclosure in No. 1.
I have, &c.
J. N. JORDAN.
(No. 58.) Sir,
Acting Consul-General Willis to Sir J. Jordan.
Mukden, November 23, 1909. I HAVE recently returned from a brief visit to Chang Ch'un and Harbin, and have now the honour to submit the following brief report ou the present commercial conditions prevailing in North Manchuria, as far as I have been able to ascertain them.
There can be no doubt that the last year has witnessed considerable development in the Russian sphere of influence in Manchuria, and that there now seems every prospect of a gradual increase in the prosperity of the district, especially if the Chinese Eastern Railway make an honest effort to carry out the policy of adminis- tering the railway on commercial rather than political lines, as recently laid down by the Russian Finance Minister, M. Kokovtseff, in his public speeches.
The population of Harbin itself has remained practically stationary during the past year. Excluding the railway guards there are approximately 18,000 Russian inhabitants. The number of Chinese residing in the railway area is given at 12,000: there are nearly 1,000 Japanese, 100 Austrians, 60 Germans, and about 500 southern Europeans, mostly Greeks and Turks.
Only one British firm is as yet established in Harbin, but representatives of three or four strong firms have been residing in the town for some months past, engaged in a study of the local conditions, and there seems to me a strong probability that they will, if the conditions are suitable, open braches in the railway area in the near future.
Although there has been no marked charge in the appearance of the town, the general air of depression on which Sir A. Hosie remarked in the winter of 1907, and which noted as still prevailing in October 1908, has now vanished, and there are signs everywhere of the commencement of a period of healthy development and
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