Year.
1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923
585
CHINA
Average Exchange.
Imports.
Export.
S.
d.
Hk. Tls.
£
Hk. Tls.
£
5
...
...
31%
554,893,082
146,670,958
485,883,031
128,430,019
6
4
199,756,313
...
6
98
3
11
...
...
3
9
3 52
177,196,809 160,633,627
122,792,237
...
...
646,997,681
204,882,600 762,250,230 258,847,474 906,122,439 179,100,763 945,049,650 923,402,887
630,809,411
541,631,300 183,928,963 601,255,537 118,841,915 654,891,933 752,917,416
130,976,259
It will be observed in this table that an increase in silver values does not always mean an increase in trade when measured in sterling.
CUSTOMS REVENUE FOR 1923
The Maritime Customs revenue for 1923 amounted to Hk. Tls. 63,504,251, which at the average rate of exchange of 3s. 5d., equals £11,047,094. This figure represents an increase of Hk. Tls. 4,870,001 over 1922, eliminating the famine relief surtax collected in that year. To this increase, import duties-which were revised in 1922 to make them equivalent to an effective 5 per cent, ad valorem-contributed Hk. Tls. 2,582,114.
As a result of the drop in average exchange from 3/9 in 1922 to 3s. 5 d. in 1923, the gold equivalent of the 1923 collection was only £53,172 more than the collection in 1922. The revenue from the Native Customs under the Inspector-General amounted to Hk. Tls. 4,490,130, an increase of Hk. Tls. 127,679 over 1922.
All Foreign Loans and Indeinnity obligations secured on the Customs, including the Reorganization Loan, were met or fully covered.
Of the Domestic Loan obligations indirectly secured on the Customs, of which the service is under the Inspector-General, those of the third. fourth and eleventh years were fully met. Revenue funds, however, did not permit the service of the "Con- solidated Debt to be fully maintained.
While all interest payments were punctually made according to schedule, funds were sufficient only to allow of one loan drawing during the year, and redemption pay- ments were approximately $7,720,000 in arrear.
CUSTOMS REVENUE FOR 1924
The Customs Revenue for 1924 amounted in round figures to Hk. Tls. 69,550,000 an increase of Tls. 6,050,000 over the previous highest collection, namely in 1923.
The sterling equivalent of the 1924 collection at an average exchange of 3s. 7d. is £12,732,700, compared with £11,025,100 for the 1923 collection at an exchange of 3s. 53d. The revenue for 1924 of the native Customs under the control of the Inspector- General of Customs amounted in round figures to Tls. 4,240,000, which, at tlle average exchange, amounted to £776,230, showing a decrease of Tls. 250,000 as compared with the revenue for 1923.
All the foreign loans and indemnity obligations secured on the Customs revenue, including the service of the Re-organisation Loan, were fully met or covered in full.
The domestic loan obligations, of which the loan service is under the management of the Inspector-General of Customs, were met in full. It is to be noted, however, that redemption payments of the Consolidated Debt are one year in arrears of schedule.
RAILWAYS
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. 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 a 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 ne Shanghai to Woosung, ten miles in length, was constructed by an English company. HTThis little railway was subsequently purchased by the Chinese Government and closed vc by them on the 21st October, 1877. Since that time the principle of railways has been
fully accepted and only lack of funds retards the completion of many new lines. railway from Shanghai to Woosung was re-opened in 1898, as forming part of a aline to Soochow, which the provincial authorities had obtained permission from the Throne to construct. A tramway, a few miles in length, begun in 1881 to carry Cocoal from the Kaiping coal mines, near Tongshan, to the canal bank, has been extended to Taku and Tientsin on the one hand, and to Kinchow and Newchwang
The
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