Sessional_Paper_1924 — Page 125

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Industries.

The manufacture of silk filatures, porcelain, wood and ivory carvings, furniture, grass mats, paper and embroideries constitute the chief industries south of the Economic Divide”. With the exception of silk, these articles of industry are not likely to affect, appreciably, the export trade of the Port.

CC

Until railway communication with Changsha is established and there are signs of the necessary feeder lines and good roads being constructed, I submit there will be no financial justification for Hongkong to embark on works solely on account of the Rail- way. However, if the shipping interests of the Port advise that wharfage for deep- draughted ocean-going steamers is necessary for the trade as at present carried on and will guarantee a reasonable return on the capital expenditure, then by all means provide the wharfage and let it be designed to provide for future railway communication.

ANALYSIS OF THE TRADE OF THE PORTt,

The Consulting Engineers recommend, to the exclusion of other parts of the Harbour, notably North Point, the construction of Jetties in Hung Hom Bay having a depth of water alongside of 37 feet at Low Water of Ordinary Spring Tides (L.W.O.S.Ť.). As the increase in the cost of constructing solid quay walls is out of all proportion to the additional depth provided, it is necessary to determine by analysis of the trade, the class of vessel for which such facilities are to be designed.

The trade returns of the Colony shew that articles imported and exported are of a very miscellaneous nature, being made up of about 650 items. It is impossible to deal with the list in its entirety for China now demands everything made and in use in more sophisticated countries as well as much that appeals only to the Chinese palate. Amongst the prin- cipal commodities handled are:-rice, sugar, wheat-floor, tea, nuts, fish and fishery products, Chinese medicines, ginseng, sandalwood, cotton piece goods, silk piece goods, hides, rattans, coal, oils, iron and steel, tin, &c.

With regard to import goods arriving by a steamer which gives overside delivery in the stream, they generally go into transit shed (the Bill of Lading covering 7 days' "free storage") unless they have been stowed specially for direct transhipment in which case the lighter or junk transports the cargo to the outgoing ships. Cargo received by consignees (commission agents or brokers) in the Colony is not exported in bulk to any extent but is traded to smaller dealers, yet brokers, who in turn dispose of it in small lots. Ordinarily, goods after importation pass through the hands of five or six grades of intermediate men before they eventually reach the consumer or are exported. The result is that export cargo is made up of goods collected in small lots from various points but due to the unsettled state of the neighbouring provinces the mode of transport is not quite normal at present. Whereas, ordinarily, a large amount of goods such as rice, coal, chemicals, &c., go to Canton and as far as Wuchow on the West River by junk or lighter, it now happens that the greater part of the trade with Canton and West River ports is transported by river steamer; flour being damaged easily, is consigned, usually by river steamer. Due to the difference between the native and Maritime Customs' taxes, the cost of merchandise exported by native craft is much less than if carried by British or other ships foreign to China. Here enters the question of time but to the great mass of the Chinese its value is unknown. Junks are thus in a very favoured position to compete against river steamers for trade to and from riverine ports.

Diagrams Nos. 1 and 2 have been drawn up to illustrate the trade of the Port and to determine the requirements for handling it most economically.

Diagram No. 1 serves to indicate the values of merchandise imported from and Diagram exported to the various countries with which commerce was interchanged during the N year 1923; also the mode of transport as far as I have been able to ascertain. As no values, weights or particulars are on record of the numerous packages of cargo tran- shipped on through Bills of Lading, it is impossible to include consideration of it in this analysis. The diagram is incomplete in that the Trade returns of the Colony do not include .