CO129-528-1 Trade statistic returns- extent of trade passing through Hong Kong 29-12-1930 - 13-1-1931 — Page 22

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trade 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. At a guess we may put the actual figure at $10,000,000. 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

74 the world, via. Hong Kong, would be 4000,000. Broadly 2/3 of Hong Kong's visible trade is as intermediary between China and the outer world, intermediary between non-Chinese countries, and less

as intermediary between one part of China and

salter less than 9% then K

another.

11.

is ken unt

as

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 climbed 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 trade, it is, for a similar reason, desirable that Hong Kong should be on gold.

The figures deduced here are by no means exact; they are based on 3 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