Directory_and_Chronicle_1941 — Page 700

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

A458

LUNGCHOW

convoys of some number as in Tonkin. The River scenery between Lungchow and Nanning with its succession of gorges and rapids is well worth seeing but accommo- dation for Europeans on the motor boats is not of a luxurious type though each vessel has one special cabin for official travellers. The climate of the port is damp and very hot for some eight months of the year, but the winter is cold enough to be very pleasantamid such picturesque surroundings.

TRADE IN 1939

The year 1939 opened with an unprecedentedly large volume of trade, both inward and outward, passing through the Lungchow district, as Lungchow became the gateway for international and domestic trade for the South-west of China after the fall of Canton in October 1938, the interruption of communication in the West River in the same month, and the destruction of highways in the Luichow and Pakhoi districts in November of the same year. Direct foreign imports for the year under review were valued at $36.4 million as against $272,847 in 1938, and direct exports at $57.6 million as against $425,234 in the preceding year. Foreign imports passing this port, which were mostly bound for the interior, consisted of motor-trucks and accessories and parts thereof, gasolene, kerosene, liquid fuel, metals, machinery and tools, medicines, electrical materials, aniline dyes, paper, cigarettes, etc., while exports were mainly products from Kwangsi and other interior provinces, such as wolfram, tin, wood oil, antimony, aniseed oil, bristles, tea, egg products, etc.

Generally trasffic through this port was extremely busy during the year. Since July air-raids on Lungehow became almost the daily practice of the hostile planes. The mass raids on the 26th-28th August and the 12th-16th September reduced a large part of the city to ruins and caused heavy losses to lives and properties, hence the motor transportation business was getting less profitable and more difficult in the second half-year. The declaration of war in Europe in September also affected the trade of this port to a certain extent, inasmuch as the export of certain kinds of goods, such as war materials, goods of German origin, etc, from French Indo-China was prohibit- ed by the French authorities there. On the whole transportation, business flourished throughout the year, and large quantities of goods had been imported with appreciable speed and energy by all transport agents, government and private.

The year's crops of rice and other cereals were good, but still insufficient to meet the demands of the increased population through expansion of trade and influx of a large number of refugees, therefore 2,492 quintals of rice were imported from French Indo-China to make up the deficit. Due to shortage of supply and the depreciation 'of the national dollar, the prices of general commodities rose from 50 per cent to 200 per cent or more. However, standard dollar bank-notes were in free circulation in all the leading cities. The construction of the Chennankwan-Nanning section of the Hsiang-Kwei Railway was completed as far as Lungmeitsun late in November.

Directory_and_Chronicle_1941 — Page 700

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