Directory_and_Chronicle_1928 — Page 883

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HONGKONG

TRADE

The value of the trade of Hongkong was estimated for many years at about £50,000,000 per annum, but the returns compiled by the Statistical Branch of the Imports and Exports Department, established during the war, showed a total (exclud- ing treasure) for 1923, of £123,326,829, as compared with £122,191,827 in 1922. Imports were valued at £61,954,498 and exports at £61,372,331, as compared with £61,213,363 and £60,978,464 respectively in 1922. In the latter part of 1925 it was decided on the grounds of economy to close the Statistical Branch of the Imports and Exports Depart- ment and detailed figures of the trade are therefore not available.

The total of the Shipping entering and clearing at ports in the Colony during the year 1926 amounted to 310,361 vessels of 36,821,364 tons, which, compared with the figures for 1925, show a decrease of 68,806 vessels and a decrease of 4,648,220 tons. Of the foregoing, 30,231 vessels of 28,371,104 tons were engaged in foreign trade, as compared with 41,336 vessels of 32,179,053 tons in 1925. A comparison between the years 1925 and 1926 is given in the following table :-

1925. Class of Vessels. No. Tonnage. British Ocean-going.. 3,916 9,866,820 5,763 13,780,954

Foreign British River Steamers 4,058 5,455,115

Steamships under

Foreign

60 tons (Foreign Trade)...

1926.

Decrease.

Increase No. Tonnage. No. Ton'ge.

609,403

515 1,295 1,729,675

No. Tonnage. 3,401 9,257,417 4,468 12,057,279

1,266

452,878

4,276 230

5,386 165,497 2,829

87,330 2,557 78,167

5,473,429

107,735 1,036 345,143

218 18,314

Junks, Foreign Trade 20,947 2,451,789 15,027 1,387,914 5,920 1,063,875

Total, Foreign Trade.. 41,336 32,179,053 30,231 28,371,104 11,323 3,826,263 218 18,314

Steam launches)

-

plying in Water 310,924 8,050,939 249,902 6,975,072 61,012 1,075,867 of the Colony..

Junks, Local Trade...*26,917 *1,239,592 +30,218 +1,475,188

Grand Total

3,301 235,596

.379,177 41,469,584 310,361 36,821,364 72,335 4,902,130 3,519 253,910

Net Decrease..............

68,816 4,648,220

Of vessels of European construction 3,930 ocean steamers, 2,244 river steamers and 1,399 steamships not exceeding 60 tons entered during the year, giving a daily average of 20.8 ships as compared with 28.9 ships in 1925 and 41.2 ships in 1924.

A Parliamentary paper issued in August, 1905, showed Hongkong to be, in respect of tonnage, the largest shipping port in the world. The trade chiefly consists of cotton, sugar, salt, flour, oil, cotton and woollen goods, cotton yarn, opium, matches, metals, earthenware, amber, ivory, sandalwood, betel, vegetables, granite, etc.

There is an extensive Chinese passenger trade, chiefly restricted, however, to the Straits Settle- ments, Netherlands India, Borneo, the Philippines, Siam, and Indo-China.

Hongkong possesses unrivalled steam communication and there are frequent and regular mail services to Europe, America, Australia and Africa. Regular steam com- munication between Java and Hongkong is maintained by the Java-China-Japan Line and the Nederland Royal Mail Line. Between the ports on the east coast of China, Formosa and Hongkong the steamers of the Douglas S.S. Co. and the Osaka Shosen Kaisha ply regularly, and there is constant steam communication with Hoihow, Manila, Saigon, Haiphong, Tourane, Bangkok, Borneo, etc. The British-India and Apcar lines sail between Hongkong Calcutta and intermediate ports. With Shanghai, Tientsin, and the ports of Japan there is frequent communication by steamers of the Indo-China S.N. Co., China Navigation, and other lines, in addition to the English, American and French mail steamers. Between Hongkong, Macao, and Canton there is a daily steam service, and in normal times steamers run as far as Wuchow on the West River.

* Including 15,890 Conservancy and Dust Boats of 693,660 tons.

+

16,294

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",736,688