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Enclosure No.3.
SUPPLEMENTARY CONFIDENTIAL CHAPTER II.
HONG KONG ROPE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LIMITED.
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The Hong Kong Rope Manufacturing Company was estab-
lished in Hong Kong in 1883 and until recent years has
Their factory dono a steady and satisfactory business.
and plant are said to be in first class condition, well
laid out and up-to-date in every respect. They pay & matter of $10,400.00 per annum to Government in rates and
taxes and give employment to an average of 200 hands when
working at full capacity. It is claimed that the
Company is carrying on a sound industry of benefit to the port of Hong Kong and that it is an asset to the
Colony as a whole.
2. In recent years, however, the Company has found
itself faced with strong and increasing competition
from the factories of Manila and Japan.
Manufacturers
in those countries enjoy the benefits of heavily protected home markets and in conscquence are able to
reduce their costs of production to a figure which onables them to compete successfully in Empiro markets
with the Hong Kong products.
In this they are aided
by the fact that Hong Kong, although it is a member of the Empire, does not secure preferential treatment in any Empire market except that of Canada, and, as will be shown later, oven the benefits of participation in the Canadian Intermediate tariff are largely illusory.
30
و
and
It is in the Eastern Markets of the Empire particularly in India, that Japanese and Manilam conpoti- tion is most severe. In India rope from Manila and Japan competes on equal terms with the Hong Kong product, paying a duty of 30%, but under the United Kingdom-India Trade Agreement rope from the United Kingdom is admitted into India on payment of a duty of 20%. Strong represen- tations were made to the Commission that it would be of inestimable benefit to the Hong Kong rope industry if their products could be allowed the samo measure of
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