CO129-493 - Governor Sir Clementi - 1926 [6-8] — Page 72

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No.2.

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39,433 Haikwan Taels and on inward cargo 230,668 Haikwan Taels. This gives an annual average on transit dues on outward and inward cargo combined of 54,020 Haikwan Taels, or about $81,030. It is evident that this is an inconsiderable sun from the point of view of the revenue of the Liang Kuang provinces and that the proposal to credit it to the provincial authorities, and not as at present to the Ventral Government, is unlikely to cause any great alation either to the Government or to the people of those provinces.

In considering these matters, one does well to bear in mind that the area of Kuang-tung province is same 166,000 square miles and that its population was estimated in1922 to be about 37,167,000 souls. This province is, therefore, appreciably larger than the British Isles, of which the total area is only 121,633 square milea: and it has a larger population than that of England which was recorded at the 1921 census to be 35,678,530 souls. The area of Kuang-hsi is 77,220 square miles and its estimated population in 1922 was 12,258,335 souls. It is roughly speaking seven times the size of Holland with twice its population.

5.

Coast Trade Duty is levied on Chinese goods leaving a Chinese Treaty Port for any place in China, except an inland place, which can be reached without passing through another Treaty Port. It is equal to half the Export Duty on any kind of goods. The attached table, prepared by Mr. Shaw, gives the collection of Coast Trade Duty at ports in Kuang-tung and Kuang-hai for the years 1921 to 1925 and shows that the total during those five years was 2,610,081 Haikwan taels

or an annual average of 522,016 Haikwan taele equivalent to about $783,025. It is now proposed that this Coast Trade Duty,

which hitherto has always gone entirely to the Central Government, should be abolished. Such a proposal will, of course, leave the provincial authorities quite cold: and it remains to

be

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