CO129-445 - Public Offices - 1917 — Page 629

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(c) The enterprise shown by young Germans of late years in commencing business on their own account. This is probably due to the incre liberal facilities accorded to them by the manufacturers and banks in their own country.

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4. Japanese competition is becoming very serious in yarns of all kinds, and the lower end of the piece goods trade. In hosiery and underwear, Japanese productions now dominate the market. Philippines ports are becoming more and dependent on Japan for coal supplies, and Japanese shipping now takes second place.

5. Shipping and financial facilities are adequately provided by British institutions to meet the neeils of the trade. Siuce the outbreak of war, and the establishment of the Federal Reserve Bank, a tendency for American business to be financed through New York instead of through London has become apparent. This is little more than a tendency at present, so far as Atlantic ports are concerned, but, should the war be prolonged, there is some danger that the practice may become generally established.

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6. Owing to the fact that the Philippine Islands are under American control, it is difficult to see how any effectual official measures can be taken to restrict German activity in the country after the war. The extension of the "black list

for a limited period after the conclusion of peace does not appear to be either practicable or advisable in a country where neatral interests are sc deeply involved. German houses might be penalised to some extent by the restriction of the financial facilities formerly accorded to them by the British exchange banks, and by the withdrawal of those British agencies which were formerly in German hands.

7. The future of British trade in the islands depends entirely upon the attitude of the United States with regard to their political status. It is fairly certain that were the islands cast adrift to govern themselves they would rapidly sink into a state of anarchy and would fall an easy prey to Japan, to which country they would form an invaluable outpost, not merely as a political "point d'appui," but also as an outlet for her surplus population. Although under present tariff conditions it is difficult for trade in United Kingdom manufactures to expand, local British merchants still hold the strongest position in the foreign trade of the ports. Were the islands to fall into the hands of Japan, their position would be seriously undermined and would ultimately become untenable.

It would therefore appear to be in the best interests of Great Britain that the United States should maintain firm control over the Philippines.

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From a commercial point of view the country may be divided into two sections:-

(a) Cochin China and Cambodia, whose foreign trade passes through the port of Saigon. The capital of the protectorate of Cambodia is Pnom Penh on the Mekong, but the trade of this centre passes through Saigon. (b) Tongking with its foreign commerce centralised at the port of Haiphong. It is considered advisable, therefore, to divide this brief report on Indo-China under the headings of Saigon and Haiphong.

(1) The Trade of Saigon.

According to the latest Consular Report the total trade of Saigon for the three years 1912-14 was as follows:-

Imports

Exports

Total

1912.

1913.

1914.

5,055,565

£ 6,463,633

4,736,275

8,485,072

£ 5,948,416 8,656,198

9,791,840

14,948,703

14,604,614

Import Trade. The total imports of the principal articles during the same years, together with the share of the principal contributing countries, will be seen from the following table.

Articles.

Silk tissues

Gold leaf

I

cent,

Origin.

1912.

1913.

1914.

Cotton tissues

Guany bags

Opium

Dried fruits and seeds

-

.

Franes. Francs. 19,458,972 23,128,214

4,825,900 10,011,186

7,263,557 11,510,038

4,624,000 8,224,000

806,870 1,222,390 6,350,700 6,953,887

1,686,971 6.080.193

6,948,408 4,110,774

2,319,560 3,430,901

2,337,519 4,816,082

3,682,617

Francs.

4,817,379

4,501,567

Wings and spirits Kerosene

Sugar

4,639,745 1,709,182 3,528,149 3,137,525 4,013,403 3,410,504

4,175,874 1,580,370

2,674.848 3,883,363 2,523,230

L

Tea

Machinery

2,321,880 5,184,818

2,808,623 2,271,292

2,314,925

Glassware

1,400,234 2,091,419

Iron and steel

2,019,937 3,077,071

18,123,481 France and colonies. 95 per cent. ;

United Kingdom, 1 per cout. Singapore, 97 per rent. (probably of

Indian origin

15,354,507

10,911,625 Chius, 83 per rent. Hong Kong,

13 per cent.

6,979,200

6,972,17+ 5,183,046 Singapore, 66 per cent. Hong Kong.

25 per cent.

llong Kong, 96 per cent.; China, 4 per

Of Indian origin,

4,994.553 France, 38 per cent. China, 46 per

cent.; Hong Kong, 11 per cent. France, 80 per cent. China (crackers,

Jac.), 19 per cent.

France and colonies, 89 per cont. : Hong Kong (Chinese), 8 per ceat. +,376,791 Hong Kong, 40 per cent, Japan,

25 per cent.; China, 20 per rent. 4,612,317 3,924,490 France, $7 per cent. Cbius. 37 per vent; Hong Kong, 12 per cent.:

Singapore, 10 per cent.

France, 90 per cent.

Netherlands India,

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per cent.:

United States, 18 per ceut.

3.280,839 France, 45 per cent.: Singapore, 37

per cent. Hong Kong, 18 per cent. Hong Kong, 81 per cent. (probably American origio); France, 12 per

2,439,292

ceat.

From Hong Kong and Chius, over

99 per cent.

France, 66 per cent. United Kingdom, 10 per cent.; Germany, 18 per

cent,

2,193,473 France, 34 per ceut. Hong Kong, 17 per cent. Jupan, 11 per cont. ; Singapore, 10 per cent.

1,780,146 Iron, 968,397 fr. (3,400 tons); steel. 811,749 fr. (3,378 tons). Steel almost entirely from France. Trou: France, 66 per cent.: United King- dom. 13 per cent.

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SECTION 5.--French Indo-China.

Sources of Information.-Accurate information with regard to the trade of French Indo-China is difficult to obtain, inasmuch as, with the exception of the agencies of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation at Saigon, and of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China at Saigon and Haiphong, there are no British merchants established in the country. I am indebted to Sir Charles Addis, to Messrs. Adamson, Gilɓllas & Co., Ltd., of Singapore, and to Mesars. Wainwright Bros., shipping agents of the Messageries Maritimes, for certain specific information with regard to the trade of Saigon, but the bulk of the trade figures for that port have had, perforce, to be taken from the latest Consular Report.

As regards Haiphong, I visited this port in 1915 en route for the Chinese province of Yunnan, which it serves, and made a special study of the transit trade, the general conditions of which will be found in my China Report, pages 184-5.

General Description.-French Indo-China comprises the colony of Cochin-China and the protectorates of Cambodia, Annam, Tongking and the Laos States. It covers an area of 310,000 square miles, and contains a population estimated at 16,000,000, most of whom are Annamites. The Chinese number 150,000 and the Europeans 15,000. The deltas of Cochin-China and Tonking are fertile, and rice, maize, cotton, sugar, seeds and tobacco are the principal productions of these alluvial districts. The principal mineral production is coal, which is mined at Tourane, in Annam, and more especially at Hongay, in Tonking. The output averages some 500,000 tons annually.

Paper and manufactures

thereof.

Arpis and ammunition

Tobacco

Pottery

Thread -

Flour

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