760
CHINA
anti-opium measures adopted throughout China. In pursuance of the Agreement of 1911, a further reduction, in addition to the annual reduction of 5,100 chests provided for in the original Agreement, was made in the number of chests to be certificated for export from India to China in 1912, the quantity being fixed at 6,700 chests of Bengal and 14,560 chests of Malwa opium, in all, 21,260 chests. As it happens, the import into China, that is, the opium released from bond on payment of duty, is not much short of this quantity; but the large stocks in bond in Shanghai at the end of 1911 have been considerably increased, while the Hongkong stocks have only been reduced by about a third during the year. The combined stocks are reported at the end of 1912 to have been 26,160 chests, or about 2,300 chests more than at the end of 1911. This accumula- tion, valued at over 10 millions sterling, had become by the end of the year a serious burden to importers and to banks and was causing no little anxiety as to its influence on trade generally.
Chinese Opium.-The weakening of authority which immediately followed the constitutional change led to the resumption of poppy planting, even in the provinces which had most completely abandoned it, and the authorities at first found themselves without the power or the means to enforce the law, By firmness, and when necessary by military force, the backsliding tendency has been checked in many districts, but in others, less accessible or submissive, large crops of the poppy have been gathered in. But the measures taken in the latter part of the year against the transport, sale, and consumption of the drug were general and drastic, and if these measures are continued, it is difficult to see how the cultivation of the poppy can survive the destruction of its market. That the movement of Chinese opium has either practically ceased or has been driven into devious aud difficult byways is shown by the fact that the total arrivals through the Customs at treaty ports in 1912 was only 790 piculs, as compared with 3,384 piculs in 1911 and 19,875 piculs in 1910. Szechuan, as was to be expected from a province officially declared poppy-free, sent no opium down river past Ichang, though in the preceding year some hundreds of piculs, and in 1910 28,530 piculs, followed this route.
The importations of cotton piece goods were considerably under the heavy total of 1911; but, on the other hand, it is estimated that the Shanghai stocks were reduced by over half a million pieces, and, as credit was so hard to come by, it is probable that stocks in the country were pretty thoroughly worked off. The principal descriptions of plain cottons, namely, grey and white shirtings, sheetings, drills, jeans, and T-cloths have been imported in the past five years in the following quantities:-
1908
1909
pieces 8,993.534 10,691,448
1910
1911
British American. Japanese Indian
6,511,126 11,317,630
15
15
1,586,989 3,856,231 986,982 1,396,297 141,312
1,385,819
2,389,693
133,855
147,952
1912
9,618,386 1,988,061 1,930,836 2,832,625 21,935
3,043,747
26,807
12
Total.........
11,708,817 16,077,831
10,434,590 16,160,251 14,619,776
The decline is mainly in English grey shirtings. Fancy cotton piece goods also entered in smaller quantity; but the cottons which are reckoned by yards, chiefly unclassed goods, increased by 14 million yards, or nearly 19 per cent.
Of cotton yarn, the importations amounted to 2,298,479 piculs, valued at 61.4 million taels, showing an increase of 438,353 piculs, valued at 11.7 million taels. Add to this the spinnings of 32 mills in China, which have been estimated at half the combined Indian and Japanese importations, and some idea is obtained of the demand for yarn. The local mills became very active towards the end of the year, and while profiting by the high exchange, which hindered the free export of the good crops of Chinese cotton to Japan, they took in addition 279,000 piculs of the raw material from abroad, chiefly from India, as against 39,676 pieuls only in 1911. The two leading kinds of foreign yarn, Indian and Japanese, compete at northern and Yangtze ports with fairly equal results, the Japanese article having perhaps the advantage on the whole, but at ports south of Shanghai Indian yarn leaves its rival far behind. At Shanghai the importa- tions of foreign yarn fell in 1912 to 73,000 piculs, or little more than a third of the prece ling year's importations; but Shanghai distributed to other parts of China 485,818 piculs of the product of her own mills, that is, 100,000 piculs more than in 1911.
Metals generally show smaller importations. As an exception may be mentioned copper ingots, of which 109,000 piculs-nearly twice as much as in 1911- were received. This copper went chiefly to Hankow and Nanking for minting purposes. The influence of European fashions, so generally remarked, has doubled the importations of clothing,
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