Directory_and_Chronicle_1941 — Page 622

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NINGPO

agents. All foreign business is now in the hands of Chinese agents, the last foreign agent having left the port in April, 1932, There are five main steamship lines, one of which is British, the rest being Chinese; and steamers proceed to and from Shanghai daily except on Sundays. Small launches ply regularly to inland places along the coast and to the Buddhist island of Pootoo, a well-known place of pilgrimage and where foreigners may spend holidays during the summer. The staple exports of the district are green tea, straw mats, straw and rush hats, samshu, bamboo poles, cotton yarn and vegetable medicines. The Ningpo Lakes are very beautiful and provide excellent shooting. There is a proposal to make San Men Wan () into a good modern harbour...

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The railway to Hangchow was completed and opened to traffic in September. 1937, thus making it possible to travel direct from Ningpo to Shanghai by rail Roads are also open from Ning po to points south, north and west of the city; in fact it is possible to motor direct to Shanghai, Nanking, Wenchow and Nanchang on roads with a very passable surface. There are also regular bus services on these routes. Since hostilities commenced however, in the neigbourhood of Ningpo all. road and rail communication has been cut off; the railway tracks have been torn up and large sections of roads have heen destroyed, and at the present moment even sea' communication with the outside world is interrupted owing to the action of the blockading forces.

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TRADE IN 1939

At Ningpo the abnormal conditions of 1938 continued throughout 1939, and local shipping and trade were beset with considerable difficulties. The enforcement in January of an embargo on the export of certain kinds of native goods had a particularly restrictive effect upon trading activities, which, however, showed some signs of revival upon the modification of the embargo regulations in February. Severe aerial bombardments of the city from late April to early June, resulting in numerous casualties and considerable damage to property, led to the evacuation of civilians and to a general trade and business decline. Following the occupation of Tinghai by Japanese naval forces on the 23rd June, a steel vessel, the s.s. Taiping, was scuttled to close completely the Chinhai boom, Ningpo was thus, rendered inaccessible to all, but small craft, and the transhipment of passengers and cargo from and to vessels anchoring outside the boom became necessary. With the blockading of the ports of Foochow and Wenchow by the Japanese navy, Ningpo became the only port on this section of the coast affording entry and egress to passengers and goods to and from unoccupied areas in Chekiang, Kiangsi, and other provinces far inland, and upon the return in November of a very considerable portion of the previously evacuated population, business activities were resumed on a greatly increasing scale. The trade of the port was, on the whole, quite satisfactory, as the following value statistics show: direct foreign imports, $1.7 million as against $1.2. million in 1938; coastwise importations of Chinese. merchandise, $37.3 million as against $16.1 million; direct exports to foreign countries, $9.8 million as against $4.8. million; and coastwise exports of Chinese produce, $41.7 million as compared with $39.9 million. Imports of foreign sugar declined to 5,125 quintals from 18,765 quintals for 1938, while those of the native variety stood at 66,000 quintals. There were no importations of gasolene and kerosene oil during the year under review. Imports of buntal fibre showed a more than twofold increase, their value being $632,000 as against $263,000 in the previous year. Of the staple domestic imports, cotton yarn rose from 4,321 to 19,713 quintals and cotton piece goods from 16,557 to 65,169 quintals. Chemical medicinal preparations advance from $83,000 to $982,000, while cigarettes well maintained their position. Exports of tea abroad dropped to 34,594 quintals from 47,440 quintals for 1938, but their value increased by 100 per cent ($4.7 million to $9.6 million). Under coastwise exports green tea registered a precipitate decrease from 49,124 quintals in 1938 to 5,964 quintals for the year under review. Mats, buntal fibre hats, hemp fibre hats, hams, and medicinal substances, not otherwise recorded, showed, however, considerable improvement..

The total number of steamers entered and cleared during the year was 624, with a total tonnage of 537,893, às against 597 vessels totalling 591,377 tons during 1938.