CO129-405 - Public Offices - 1913 — Page 388

[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]

C.O

387

AFFAIRS OF CHINA.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[13374]

(No. 114.) Sir,

No. 1.

[March 1925

RECO SECB 517 APR 13

Sir E. Goschen to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received March 25.)

Berlin, March 20, 1913. WITH reference to my despatch No. 154 of the 28th March, 1912, I have the honour to transmit herewith a summary by Mr. Sampson of a memorandum on the development of Kiaochow from October 1911 to October 1912, which was published recently in the "Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung."

I have, &c.

W. E. GOSCHEN.

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i

Enclosure in No. 1.

Summary of Memorandum on the Development of Kiaochow from October 1911 to October 1912.

THE Chinese revolution, which began in the autumn of 1911, had an adverse effect on the commerce of the entire country. In the midst of the political troubles, however, Tsingtau remained perfectly secure and tranquil, to such an extent that many influential Chinese merchants took refuge in the colony. It is also worthy of note that the demand for land was greater than in any year since the colouy was taken over. The trade of the colony was favourably affected by the above-mentioned settlement of Chinese merchants and by the good barvest in the hinterland.

These circumstances more than outweiglied the harmful effects of the revolution, and there was in consequence an increase of 76 per cent. in the revenue of the Chinese Maritime Customs, which amounted to 1,406,113 Haikwan taels in 1911-12 as against 1,306,520 Haikwan taels in 1910-11.

The trade of the colony rose from 6940 million Mexican dollars in the previous year to 89-96 million Mexican dollars. The value of tho dollar, moreover, increased from an average of 1a. 10d. to 28. in the year 1911-12.

According to the statistics of the Maritime Customs Office, the imports of goods not of Chinese origin, excluding the duty-free materials for railways and mining, amounted to 30-9 million dollars as against 287 million dollars in the preceding year, while the imports of Chinese origin, which had continually decreased in recent years, rose from 84 million dollars in 1910-11 to 22:06 million dollars in 1911-12. This rise was due principally to the above-mentioned increase in the Chinese population, but was also influenced by the completion of the Tien-tsin-Pukow Railway. The total imports of German origin amounted to 54 million Haikwan taels, or 796,5007.

The exports in 1911-12 amounted to 37,000,000 dollars as against 32.3 million dollars in 1910-11. The most important exports in the two years were as follows:-

Straw plaiting

Ground nute

Ground nut-il

Silk of all kinds Cattle

1910-11.

1911-12.

Dollars.

Dollars.

7,200,000

15,400.000

5,700,000

5,000,000

2,000,000

3,200,000

5,000,000

5,900,000

300,000

700,000

During the year 727 ships were cleared, with an aggregate tonnage of 1,136,012 net register tons as against 500 ships of 1,025,267 tons in the previous

year.

There was a considerable increase in the receipts of the Shantung Railway Company, which was partly due to the fact that the Tien-tsin-Pukow Railway, joining up to the terminus of the Shantung Railway at Teinau-fu, was given over to traffic.

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