Directory_and_Chronicle_1906 — Page 688

CHINA

605

what is everyone's business is no one's business, and it is probable that, as with Tea, so also with Silk, the guilds and merchants interested will allow matters to drift. Straw Braid increased from 80,723 to 86,110 piculs. A large portion of the increase came from improved demand for the finer qualities, while the coarser grades were again distinguished by the same charges of irregular plaiting and fraudulent packing which have characterised the industry in recent years. The Shantung product shows a tendency to gravitate to Kiaochow since the opening of the railway from Chi-nan, the Chefoo contribution to the combined export of the two ports having fallen from 70 per cent. in 1903 to 40 per cent. in 1904. Should this tendency continue, the efforts which have been made by some German exporters to improve the quality of the straw and the methods of braiding and packing will, if successful, have the inevitable result of forcing the Chinese guilds and middlemen, if not from shame, at least from interest, to place some restraint on the operations of the producers and packers, and in time a recognised chop may have a recognised value. Raw Cotton, the export of which suffered a slight check in 1903 owing to the high prices prevailing in the world's markets, again resumed its forward march, and shipments increased by 60 per cent. to 1,228,588 piculs. Sugar was again moderate in amount, 365,906 piculs for all kinds. Skins and Furs, Feathers, Hides, Nankeens, Oils (expressed and essential), and Opium are the principal other commodities to show much increase. The most marked decrease is in Oil Seeds (Cotton, Rape, and Sesamum); the weather which gave such abundant crops of rice appears not to have been so good for these seeds, and the sharp rise in exchange doubtless lowered exporter's value below that at which producers would sell. Matting was exported to America in diminished quantity, owing to disputes, resulting in a strike, between workmen and jobbers; the troubles were settled before the end of the year, and 1:05 should show better results. Opium was exported to Tonkin to the amount of 3,179 piculs.

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"Shipping. The tonnage entered and cleared was 63,774,700 tons, an increase of 6,484,317 tons. Of this increase, Chinese Native-type shipping accounted for 4,568,241 tons, due to the inclusion in the table for the first time of the tonnage entered at certain offices. The remainder of the increase, nearly 2 million tons, is the normal increase of vessels under the Foreign flag. Of the total, the British tonnage rose from 49 to 51 per cent.; this, except for the Chinese flag, is the only increase in per-centage and the only considerable increase in tonnage, probably caused by the temporary substitution of British ships for those of the two belligerents, and partly by the tonnage required for the conveyance of 18,552 indentured labourers from Chinwangtao and Chefoo to South Africa. German tonnage, about the same in amount as in 1903, fell in per-centage from 13 to 12. Japanese tonnage fell, by the withdrawl of much of the ocean shipping, to but little more than half of 1903 figures, but was maintained at 4,290,350 tons by vessels under that flag employed solely within the neutral waters of China; the per-centage fell from 14 to 6. The Russian flag contributed 56,275 tons presumably in the first month of the year, against 569,903 tons in 1903. Of other flags, the French and Norwegian remained at 2 per cent. each, and the American rose to 13

per cent.

46

Treasure.---The amount of Treasure imported was Hk. Tls. 34,119,801, and of the export, Hk. Tls. 38,672,972, giving on the balance a net export of Hk. Tls. 4,553,171. It may be noted that at the close of the year and for some time in 1905 exchange rates (silver expressed in terms of gold) were from 2 to 3 per cent. below the parity of exchange based on the price of bar silver. Silver shows a movement of Hk. Ï'ls. 23,518,68 imported and Hk. Tls. 37,128,368 exported, two-thirds of the import coming from Hongkong, while Hongkong took three-fifths and Japan one-third of the export.

Although China is traversed in all directions by roads, they are usually mere tracks, or at best footpaths, along which the transport of goods is a tedious and difficult undertaking. It was owing to the imperfect means of communication that such a fearful mortality attended the last famines in Shansi, Honan, and Shantung, as well as the famine in Kiangsi in 1903 when the scarcity of food was so great that in numberless instances men even publicly sold their wives and children when powerless to meet the responsibility for feeding them. The enormous mineral wealth of Shansi is practically non-existent for the

reason. A

vast internal trade is, however, carried on over the roads, and by means of numerous canals and navigable rivers. The most populous part of China is singularly well adapted for the construction of a network of railways, and a first attempt to introduce them into the country was made in 1876, when a line from Shanghai to Woosung, ten miles in length, was constructed by an English company. The little rai!-