CO129-528-1 Trade statistic returns- extent of trade passing through Hong Kong 29-12-1930 - 13-1-1931 — Page 14

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brade in which China plays no part is not less than

20 million dollars greater than the portion

exclusively Chinese.

10. We have seen that the inter-Chinese trade

cannot exceed $14,030,000.

actual figure at $10,000,000.

At a guess we may put the

Then the wholly non-

Chinese trade would be $30,000,000 and the trade which consists of an exchange between China and the rest of the world, via. Hong Kong, would be $74,000,000. Broadly 2/3 of Hong Kong's visible trade is as

intermediary between China and the outer world, 20 per cent as intermediary between non-Chinese countries,

and

rather less than 9% as intermediary between one

part of China and another.

11.

The importance from the currency point of

view is obvious. In so far as Hong Kong is intermediary between China and the (gold-using) rest of the world, an exchange between gold and silver has got

to be made at some stage; whether the fence is climbeã

this side of Hong Kong or the other seems immaterial. For the inter-Chinese trade it is simpler for Hong Kong

to be on silver, so avoiding a double gold-silver

exchange, but for the more important non-Chinese trado

it is, for a similar reason, desirable that Hong Kong

should be on gold.

exact;

望

The figures deduced here are by no means

they are based on 5 months' statistics only and

the fact that Hong Kong's trade is not wholly an

entrepôt trade, has in the main been ignored. Also

it has not been possible to take into account "invisible"

exports