HONGKONG
217
The following table shows the barometer (reduced to mean sea level), temperature. rainfall, humidity, and wind velocity. The figures are the average of ten years' observations (1884-93) made at the Observatory at Kowloon, 108 feet above sea level, and are compiled from tables given in the annual report of the Director of the Observatory for 1893 :-
BAROMETER (in inches).
RAIN
HUMIDITY. WIND VELOCITY. (in inches). (percentage of (miles per hour)
TEMPERATURE (in deg. Fahr.).
saturation).
Mean. Max.
Min.
Mean, Max. Min.
Mean.
Mean. Min.
Mean.
January
30.16
30.37
29.69
59.4
75.6
32.0
1.67
February
30.14
30.39
29.57
57.3
79.0
40.3
1.76
March
30.06
30.31
29.55 62.0
80.3
46.8
4.08
April
29.96
30.16
29.58 69.7
88.6
55.6
7.58
May
29.87
30.02 29.48 76.2
90.9
64.1
15.00
June
29.77 29.88 29.28 80.5
92.6
69.2
16.97
83
July
29.73
29.88
28.91 81.5
92.9
72.1
15.98
August.
29.76
29.85
29.20
80,9
92.9
71.6
13.89
September
29.82
29.98
28.88
80.1
93.9
65.6
8.58
October
29.99 30.19
29.23 76.3
93.8
60.8
4.78
November
30.12
30.31
29.59
69.0
83.0
52.1
0.81
December
30.18
30.35
29.76 62.5
81.9
44.2
1.21
Year
29.96 30.39 28.88 71.3
93.9
32.0
92.31
Z RAZ*********
74
5
14.8
79
11
15.2
85
24
16.9
86
20
14.3
84
35
13.7
34
12.4
83
47
1.1
83
46
9.4
77
34
12.1
70
22
14.7
65
15
13.8
65
12.9
78
13.5
TRADE.
Hongkong is a free port, and there is no official return of the imports and exports compiled, but the value of its trade is estimated at about £40,000,000 per annum. During the year 1893 the following tonnage entered and cleared with cargoes:-
CLEARED
NATIONALITY
ENTERED Vessels. Tons.
NATIONALITY
ENTERED
Vessels. Tons.
Vessels. Tons.
CLEARED Vessels. Tons.
American
44
71,119
46
71,295
Austrian
23
54,514
24
56,274
Hawaiian Italian
2
2,505
2
2,505
13
19,337
13
19,337
British
Chinese
3,061 209
3,867,926
3,087
3,864,269
Japanese
87
50,147
38
52,932
227,180
211
227,463
Norwegian
65
71,854
67
74,048
Chinese Junks.. 23,079
1,748,892
23,518
1,739,115
Peruvian
1
398
1
398
Danish
108
48,011
106
48,011
Russian
1
2,005
1
2,005
Dutch..
18
22,756
18
22,756
Siamese
3
1,886
3
1,886
French
110
152,677
110
152,638
Spanish
14
8,140
16
8,402
German
664 665,894 664
665,241
A total of 18,328 vessels, of 6,168,613 tons entered, and 20,789 vessels, of 6,199,790 tons cleared with cargoes. There also entered in ballast 9,722 vessels, of 846,628 tons, and there cleared 7,116 vessels with 808,835 tons.
The trade chiefly consists in opium, cotton, sugar, salt, flour, oil, cotton and woollen goods, metals, earthenware, amber, ivory, sandalwood, betel, vegetables, granite, &c., &c. There is an extensive Chinese passenger trade, now chiefly restricted, however, to the Straits Settlements, Netherlands India, Borneo, the Philippines, Siam, and Indo-China. Hongkong possesses unrivalled steam communication. The P. & O. S. N. Co. and the M. M. Co. convey the European mail weekly, the Norddeutscher Lloyd Co. maintain a regular monthly mail service between Bremen and Hongkong, the P. M. S. S. Co. and the O. & O. S. S. Co. maintain a mail service with San Francisco, the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. a regular mail service with Vancouver, B.C., a regular line has been estab- lished by the Northern Pacific S. S. Co. to Tacoma, and the Eastern and Australian S. S. Co. and the China Navigation Co. keep up a frequent but rather irregular service with the Australian Colonies. In addition to all these, several great lines of merchant steamers run between London, Liverpool, and Hongkong, of which the Ocean S. S. Co. and the Glen, Shire, and Union lines are the most conspicuous. The Austro-Hungarian Lloyd's steamers also ply from Trieste to Hongkong, and the Navigazione Generale Italiana Company's steamers run monthly from Genoa. There is frequent but irregular steam communication between Java and Hongkong. Between the ports on the east coast of China and Hongkong the steamers of the Douglas S. S. Co. ply regularly twice a week, and there is constant steam communication with Hoihow, Manila, Saigon, Haiphong, Tourane, Bangkok, Borneo, &c. With Shanghai, Tientsin, and the ports of Japan there is frequent communication in addition to the English and French mail steamers, which leave weekly. Between Hongkong, Macao, and Canton there is a daily steam service.
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