Directory_and_Chronicle_1934 — Page 887

CANTON

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Roman Catholic church on the French Concession. The Settlement has the Victoria Hotel providing good accommodation, During an anti-foreign riot on the 10th September, 1883, 16 houses and the Concordia Theatre on the Settle- ment were burned by the mob.

TRADE IN 1932

The prosperity of Canton is dependent normally and in the first place on conditions in its home province of Kwangtung; but the trade of the port is also affected, naturally, by conditions in the wider area immediately served by it in the provinces of Kwangsi and Kweichow, by conditions in China as a whole, and, not least in importance, by conditions in its markets abroad. The North River districts, were threatened in June by an invas- ion of communist forces that had been driven out of Fukien, and trade was brought to a standstill for a time; but conditions in the interior of Kwangtung province were on the whole much better than they have been for some years. In Kwangsi banditry has been suppressed, and, with the improvement being made in the lines of communication-of the province, it should annually become easier to maintain order. The same cannot be said of Kweichow, which province was the scene of constant military activities against the communists throughout the year. The latter were sufficiently strong to besiege the large garrisoned cities, and it became necessary to organise a joint campaign by Canton and Nanking forces to relieve the situation.

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The commercial progress that might have been made was limited by the continued depression in foreign markets, by events in Manchuria and at Shanghai, and by the anti-Japanese boycott. In would appear, indeed, that the trade of the port declined somewhat as compared with the previous year, except for a slight increase in exports coastwise; but it is admitted that the Customs, statistics are misleading, seeing that they take no account of the carge carried by the Canton-Kowloon Railway, nor of the large importations for the Canton market brought in through the Taishan Station of the Kowloon Customs and recorded in the returns for the latter port. In the import trade the continued low price of all primary products offset to a large extent the further decline in the purchasing power of this silver-using country.

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The petroleum product dealers report that the local market for kerosene, paraffin wax, and foreign style candles has about reached saturation point owing to the development of electric lighting plants and other causes, while the demand for gasoline, lubricating oils, and asphalt is increasing with the great development of motor highways in the district. The figures for building materials remained fairly steady, but with a tendency to drop in sympathy with a slight falling off in constru- ctional activity. Sugar and almost all other, high-duty-paying commodities declined. The import of motor cars is progressively increasing, comparative figures for 1930, 1931 and 1932 being 114, 198, and 214 cars respectively. Considerably less rice was imported than in the previous year owing to an excellent second crop locally. The total value of exports abroad and coastwise declined by one third; and the year under review was undoubtedly one of the worse experienced by exporters for many years. Local costs of production had not increased, while methods have become more modern and communications have improved, so that the reason for the poor figures is narrowed down to the imposition of high tariffs in almost every country and the widespread depression in trade The Canton silk market fell to even lower levels than those of the previous year. Raw silk declined from a value of 26.1 million taels to 11.4 million taels, silk waste from 3.0 to 0.4 million taels, and silk piece goods from 5.3 to 4.2 million taels. The value of the export trade in silk was 60 million Haikwan taels in 1929. Wolfram or Tungsten ore is the only metal entering largely into the trade with abroad: the figures show a very serious decline from 77,552 piculs in 1931 to 27,437 piculs in the year under review.

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The length of the gap in the middle of the Hankow-Canton Railway is being reduced gradually, and work has been commenced on two bridges that are to be built for the purpose of connecting up the termini of the Hankow-Canton and the Canton- Samshui Railways. A new railway to connect Chungshan with Fatshan and thence with Canton by way of the Canton-Samshui Railway has been surveyed, and constru- ction is to commence immediately, Street widening work has been continued and there are now some 50 miles of modern thoroughfares in the city itself, while several new roads have been laid out in the suburbs, and the highways now in use in the distruct are too numerous to mention here. The reclamation work at Honam point has continued during the year, but it will be sometime before the project is completed.

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