Directory_and_Chronicle_1937 — Page 467

PEI-TAI-HO AND CHINWANGTAO

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smuggling between Manchuria and China proper-eastwards in silver dollars and westwards in artificial silk yarn, sugar and cigarette paper-being openly carried on. The Customs were most gravely handicapped in their attempts to suppress these activities by the extreme delicacy of the political situation, and the taking of effective action against the large gangs of truculent smugglers who were operating was all but possible, with the result that preventive control in this area became little more than nominal, to the great detriment both of revenue interests and of legitimate trade throughout North China. Again, at the end of September Customs preventive vessels were

were prevented from operating in the territorial waters of the demilitarised "zone." Smuggling by sea with complete immunity from interference being thenceforth practicable, the east to west Traffic was diverted from the overland route from Wanchiafan-outside the Great Wall-to Chinwangtao Railway Stations, and, instead, goods were shipped direct by "puff-puffs" and even fair-sized steamers from ports in Korea and the Kwantung Leased Territory in over-increasing quantities to various points along the coast which gave convenient access to Nantasau, Changli, and other stations on the Pei-Ning Railway, whence they were conveyed openly to Tientsin in freight cars; and at the end of year these conditions still obtained. However, in November the Japanese authorities adopted vigorous measures against smugglers of silver, with the result that the leakage of specie through Shanhaikwan, which had proceeded on an enormous scale during the previous months, was stopped immediately. A final disturbing factor was added to a situation already sufficiently complex by the establishment, in the closing weeks of the year, of an autonomous regiine in Eastern Hopeh. From February to May, while normal conditions still prevailed, there was marked activity in nearly every branch of trade, exportations of coal, 'common glass, aud groundnuts, and importations of machinery, sinseng, leaf tobacco, and tobacco siftings, being particularly heavy, Public confidence, however, was most seriously shaken by the vicissitudes already alluded to, with the result that mercantile commitments were thenceforth correspond- ingly curtailed, though there was an appreciable improvement, especially in the coal trade, in the last two months of the period under review. The value statistics of the trade of Chinwangtao and district for the year were as follows: direct from foreign imports, 2.1 million dollars as against 2.8 million in the preceding year; direct ex- portations to foreign countries, 5.9 million dollars as against 6.1 million; coast wise importations of Chinese produce, 3.9 million dollars as against 6.2 million; and coast- wise exportations of Chinese produce. 15.4 million dollars as against 17 million. The decline in the import trade must be attributed in part to the retrenchment policy adopted by the Kailan Mining Administration, whose importations of metals of all kinds and of electrical and railway materials were merely sufficient to meet their minimum requirements, and, as regards electrical sundries, replacements were made for the most part by Shanghai-manufactured products owing to their comparatively cheaper price. The marked decline in the value of timber importations from $622,099 to $201,065, was due partly to the large stocks imported in the previous year being exhausted and partly to the felling of acacia trees planted by the Administration 20 years earlier. Of the export staples, coal declined from 2.7 million, to 2.6 million tons owing to a reduced demand from Japan and Korea and the closing-down of factories at the principal Chinese ports due to general trade depression; groundnuts showed a 7 per cent. decrease in quantity owing to the bulk of European demand being supplied by Shantung and India, where the crops were prolific; while the value of exportations of bricks, tiles, and fireclay receded from $298,923 to $268,869. As regards window glass, the common variety advanced appreciably from 1,932,280 to 2,549,390 square metres, whereas other varieties decreased by 34 per cent. Some 2,000 tons of anthracite coal from the Liuchiang area were exported in the last months of the year.

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