Page
May 16, 1904.]
The 397 foreign ships carried 2,882 officers, of whom 267 were British, borne as follows In Japanese ships, 139; Chinese, 97; United States, 16; French, 7; Dutch,; 4 Belgian, 4. Total, 267. The proportion of British officers in foreign ships was therefore 9.3 per cent. distributed among six nationalities; a decrease of 1.4 per cent. with an increase of ships.
Of the crews of British vessels 16.6 per cent. were British, 0.5 per cent. other Europeans, 82.9 per cent. Asiatics. Of the crews of foreign vessels. 12 per cent. were British. 22.3 per cent. other Europeans, 76.5 per cent. Asiatics. This shows a slight increase of Asiatics in British and foreign vessels, with a slight falling-off in the proportion of Europeans,
TRADE.
The returns under this heading are gathered from the masters of vessels, and, in some cases, from the agents concerned, and must be looked upon as but approximate and, it may be, mis- leading. It is much to be regretted that mas- ters and agents do not render more accurate returns.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
369
mits were issued, free of charge, to mail | It would cost a considerable sum of money steamers; the privilege ceased on the 22nd July, money which, however, once spent, would be 1903. The revenus collected under this head-spent once and for all, and would give us many ing was 834,800.
things besides an increased deep water anchor- age, including the vexed question of commui. cations. dealt with by Captain Rumsey in his report for 1901.
SEAMEN.
The report of Mr. 8. B. C. Ross. Acting Postmaster-General, on the Post Office in 1903
19,860 season were shipped and 23.265 dis- charged at the Mercantile Marine Office and on board ships during the year. 158 "distress- ed seamen were received during the year. Of these 55 were sent to the United Kingdom, 3 to HONGKONG POST OFFICE IN 1903. Sydney, 1 to Calcutta. 2 to Singapore. 2 to Moji, 3 obtained employment on shore. 3 at Canton, I went as passenger to San Francisco. 1 to the United Kingdom, 2 to Singapore, 2 joined the Chinese Customs. 1 Japanese Wrest- ler's Company, 1 taken charge of by the Ger- man Consul, 1 departed to Canton. I died at the Government Civil Hospital. 1 at Sailors' Home, 3 remained at the Sailors' Home, and 74 obtain. ed employment. 82.601.00 were expended by the Harbour Master on behalf of the Board of Trade in the relief of these distressed seamen.
GENERAL.
Captain Rumsey having left the Colony for The principal features to be remarked in the good, it devolves upon me to father this report, reported trade of the port for 1903 are:-
which deals with a period during three quar- Imports. Increases in coal of 14.0 per cent..ters of which he was in charge of the harbour. cotton of 80.8 per cent.. flour of 11.6 per cent.. case petroleum of 37.3 per cent. general of 77 per cent. Decreases in bulk petroleum of 25.4 per cent.. liquid fuel of 84.1 per cent.. rice of 27.1 per cent, sugar of 14.3 per cent.; timber of 14.1 per cent. The net increase under this head
amounts to 21.847 tons.
Exports.-There is an increase reported of 24.252 tons.
Transit cargo.-There is an increase reported of 502,553 tons.
The total reported import trade of the port for 1903 amounted to 24,819 vessels of 10.959.293 tons, carrying 7,392.320 tons of cargo, of which 4,517,370 tons were discharged at Hongkong This does not include the number, tonnage, or cargo of junks, or steam launches employed in local trade.
Similarly, the export trade from the port was represnted by 24.966 vessels of 10.944,055 tons, carrying 3.034.689 tons cargo, and shipping 675,891 tons of bunker coal.
During the year 1903, 14,489 vessels of European construction, of 19,018.411 tons (net register), reported having carried 9,768,405 tons of cargo, as follows:---
Import cargo, Export
19
Transit
+
Bunker coal shipped
3,985,310 2,245,119 2.874,950 663,026
9.768.405
The total number of tons carried was, there-
fore, 51.3 per cent. of the total net register tonnage (or 65.4 per cent.. exclusive of river steamers).
REVENUE.
The total revenue collected by the Harbour department during the year was $285.288.42, being an increase of $18.522.43 on the previous
year :-
Light Dues
Licences and Internal Revenue Fees of Court and Office
: Total
STEAM LAUNCHES.
$74,960.00 55,475.50 154.852.92
$285,288.42
:
On the 31st December, there were 242 steam launches employed in the harbour of these, 98 were licensed for the conveyance of passengers, 121 were privately owned, 17 were the property of the Colonial Government, and 6 belonged to the Imperial Government in charge of the Military authorities.
EMIGRATION.
83,384 emigrants left Hongkong for various places during the year; of these, 55,681 were carried by British ships and 27,703 by foreign ships; 140,551 were reported as having been brought to Hongkong from places to which they had emigrated, and of these, 107,166 were brought in British ships and 33,385 by foreign ships.
SUNDAY CARGO-WORKING.
During the year, 336 permits were issued under the provisions of the Ordinance. Of these, 105 were not availed of owing to its being found unnecessary for the ship to work cargo on the Sunday, and the fee paid for the oprmit was refunded in each case, and 22 per-
I may, perhaps, be permitted to express my own personal regret at, and my sense of the loss the Colony has incurred through his departure.
The building of the much-needed new Harbour Office has now been commenced, and it is to be hoped that the work will be pushed on as quickly as possible, as the work of the department is seriously hampered by the restricted view of the
But it is scarcely
Harbour from the office. probable that the new office can be opened much before another two
have passed.
years During the year arrangements have been made to light Cap-shui-mun, and this light will. I trust, he established before this report appears in print. There would seem to ba little pros- pect, however, of immediate improvement iu the lighting of the eastern and western ap proaches to the Harbour, by the shifting of Cape D'Aguilar Light to Green Island, and the Green Island Light to Cape Collinson. as ap- proved in 1900, owing to the greater necessity for other Publie Works. which are absorbing all the available funds. It is to be hoped that it will be possible to carry out these greatly needed improvements before long. Green Island light being so inefficient in its present position. and Cape D'Aguilar light having been lying idle for over seven years now. This latter light cost the Government £2.914 about thirty years ago, and is in as good condition now as it was when it was first lit in 1874.
The size of vessels trading to and from the Colony continues to increase, as well as their numbers, and the problem as to where to put them is becoming very serious. The deep water area of the harbour is small, and, owing to constant reclamations and silting up of cer- tain parts of the Harbour, this area is continual ly contracting. Something will have to be done in the near future to provide accommodation for the shipping, and the question is "What“? It is probable that the shipping of the port will continue to increase, both in numbers and size, so that any measures that may be decided upon will have to take the future into account. and not only the immediate future. either. Dredging is extremely slow and expensive work, and any scheme which bases its entire hopes on this alone. is, in my opinion, doomed to failure, not only on account of the slowness of the work, but because of the probable use- lessness of it, for it is reasonable to believe that, as those parts of the Harbour which stand in need of dredging have been, and are still being, silted up, so they will continue to be in the future, and unless a prohibitive (as to cost) number of dredgers be employed, and be kept employed. very little, if any, impression will be made on the depth of the water. And the work will be endless, as it will have to be kept going indefinitely.
|
is published in the Gazette. We make the following extracts:
Registered articles and insured letters, dealt show an increase of 177 per cent, on the figures with during the year. The insured letters
has also been an increase in the number of of the previous year. It is probable that there
registered articles, but comparison is difficult. owing to the fact that for 1903 the figures represent the actual number of covers which passed through the office, while those for 1902 were an approximation.
All the figures except parcel boxes despatched show an increase, while the packets and bags which have passed through in transit have ingreased by 10,000.
There is also an increase in the number of steamers carrying mails which have arrived and departed, the figures being 16,684 for the year under review at against 15.858 in 1902.
Postage stamps.-The total amount from monthly sales was $351.306.64, an increase of 386,885, 81 on the sales of the previous year.
Sales of stamps at the British agencies.-The amount was $81,406.50, showing a decrease of $8,839,52 on the takings of the previous year. The Shanghai and Canton offices are responsible
as the opening of the Siberian route to mails
for $7.276,97 of this decrease. In the former
sent by foreigu offices before the British office was able to sead mails doubtless took away business from the Shanghai agency. The decrease in Canton is due probably to the improved methods in the Imperial Chinese office. other agencies, and that as the Chinese postal There is little doubt that this will occur in
serr ce comes into line with other countries in
the Union, the receipts from the British Agencies will diminish.
with those of the previous year is impossible as Parcel Pos. A direct comparison of figures
The space the figures for 1903 are actual. provided in the parcel branch is inadequate. Structural alterations have been made in the registration and parcel branch, and there is now sufficient space for carrying on the ordinary routine work of the office, but the rooms are too
So far as I am aware, no other plan (than that of dredging) for providing deep water accom- modation. has hitherto been suggested, except that contained in a scheme of Harbour Im- provement formulated and submitted to Gov- enment by me in January, 1902, which pro- vided inter alia, for the deepening, by natural means, of the water west of the Kowloon | Peninsula and inside Sulphur Channel. This scheme I am not now permitted to publish.
small for dealing in a satisfactory manner with the mails which arrive by the contract packets.
Revenue and Expenditure.-The revenue re. ceived from all sources was $414.867.20 as com-
pared with $387,066.19 in 1902. The expenditure was $334.177.40 as against $16,240.12 during the previous year. The profit made by the Post Office on the year's transaction was
$80.689.80.
The money order business done during the year 1903 was $790,642.10.
amounted
Imperial notes sold during the year to £6,667 5s., an increase of £640 18s. 44d. as
compared with the notes sold in 1902. Local postal notes to the value of $12,926.25 were sold, which is an increase of $2,492.18 on the amount sold during the previous year.
General-The Siberian route was first used for the transmission of closed mails from the
British offices in China and Hongkong in November. The postal rates are the same as those charged rid Suez. Conventions relating to the direct exchange of parcels were arranged with the United States of America and Batavia.
The French hospital at Canton-Hopital Doumer-will in all probability be completed in July. This magnificent establishment, as a French contemporary describes it, will comprise. besides the dispensary, a " Lebaudy pavilion," in which there will be an operating chamber and a laboratory for bacteriological investigation and two large, wards which will each contain thirty beds. The Viceroy, it is stated, is greatly interesting himself in the hospital, and has appointed twelve students to assist the doctor in charge and to be instructed by him in the principles of medicine and surgery.
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