CO129-578-5 Development of Whampoa Port 13-12-1938 - 11-5-1939 — Page 51

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ANNUAL REPORTS

On the other hand the annual reports of the

China Maritime Customs show that combined value of the

imports and exports at Canton has decreased almost progressively from 267,127,728 standard dollars (which is the legal equivalent of the number of Haikwan taels reported)

for the year 1924, to 73,392,291 dollars for 1926 or to

27.5 per cent of the 1924 figure. In the same interval the combined Canton and Kowloon exports and imports dropped

from $379,599,983 in 1924 to $137,187,871 in 1936 or to 36.3 per cent. This equals an average decrease of slightly over $20,000,000 in business for the two ports combined each year for the twelve year period. The annual decrease in the business of Canton averaged somewhat over $16,000,000

For China as a whole there was a drop of $648,159,939 from $2,299,474,072 to $1,651,314,133 for the years here described

or to 72.2 percent. These figures for 1924 for China as a whole omit the business reported by the Manchurian Custom's

Stations, which amounted to $521,887,288 in that year.

Since the ship tonnage showed an increase, it is

probable that the loss in value is at least in part to be

explained by changes in the money value of an average ton

of most commodities. For example, the money value in

dollars of the total export and imports of Canton for the year 1929 per net registered ton of the vessels which

entered and cleared was $58.40 while in 1936 it was down

to $21.40

Investigations of the volume of exports and imports for 1929 compared with 1936 are progress to discover which commodities have gained or lost in volume and in unit

price.

The future probable tonnage was fixed as a result

of s tudies of all the major ports of C..ina, on the basis

first, of distance from the sea to each river port (such

as Nanking) second, of the depth of water (which limite