Hawke's Bay Herald. FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 1900. THE TRADE OF CHINA.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 11562, 15 June 1900, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 1900. THE TRADE OF CHINA.

The Chairman of the P. and 0. Company, at the annual meeting of that great corporation, according to a cable message in this morning's issue, stated that the commerce of China was one of the best fields

in the world. The Inspector-General of Chinese Customs, Sir Robert Hart, ißsues a voluminous annual report on the trade of the country, internal and external, and a late copy of The Times contains a summary of the report for 1899, from which we gather the following par- . ticulars. The general statement of the year's trade oan best be given in the opening words of the report, promising beforehand that the Haikwan Tael, in which ourrenoy the different values are stated, is equivalent tc 3s OJd in English money. The report states : " The foreign trade of China during the year 1899 was characterised by an astonishing development, and merchants, both foreign and native, made handsome profits in almost every branoh. The political situation, although still unsettled, gave rise to no immediate fears ; exchange rnmained remarkably steady, the rice crop was abundant, the spring weather during the oritical period for the silkworms was unusually favorable, and, except for a recrudescence of piracy in the West River, there were no disturbances to check trade. The gratifying result was that the year had beat all previous records, and showed an advance without precedent. The total trade was valued at Hk. Tis. 460,533,288, a rise of Hk. Tis. 91,916,805 on 1898, and more than double the figures for 1890. The internal trade of the country was • also unusually brisk, and the important , changes whioh will be brought about by I the extension of railways have already ( been proved." _ One of the objeots of the " Boxers," or i Chinese reactionaries, is apparently to 1 destroy the railways. While the Chinese i who oome to these colonies show them- t

selves very much alive to the main ohance, and take every advantage of the means of production and transport, the Chinaman at home, especially if he lives inland, in his blind hatred of everything foreign will root out and destroy even that whioh is a distinot benefit to him. The opposition to railways is a oase in point. Many years ago the Government granted a concession to an English company to construct a short line from the oapital, but the outcry against the "foreign devil" was so great that before the line was oomplete the Government was forced to buy out. the company and I pull np the rails. The late' Emperor was I .bold enough to brave this opposition, and he consented to the construction of several short lines, and Sir Kobert Hart tells us that two of these, the Niu-ohwang, and Tien-tsin, already bear ; witness to the stimulus effected by better 1 means of communication, and, in spite of ] a severe outbreak of plague at the former i port, the trade of both has mqde an im- ' j

IWIMIMfeHWiMMMriMMaM i'■ • i mense advance. The Russian line has it been completed as far north as Mukden n and the line from Peking (to Han-kau p makes steady progress. Other railways r are also being pushed forward at the g same pace, and, wherever tbey have been v completed, show the same improvement i in commercial movement. _ The revenue derived from the Customs *. is a fair measure of the year's prosperity. *. The figures for 1899 are as follows : — , The total revenue for the year was Hk. , Tis. 26,661,460, or Hk. Tis. 4,158,063 higher than the previous year, and Hk. ' Tis. 3,143,439 more than was collected in i 1891, whioh was our record year. As the i average rate of ezohange was higher than j during 1898, this represents a substantial , gain in the amount available for the * liquidation of foreign obligations. There ' was an inorease under every heading, i Transit dues again advanced, from Hk. < Tis. 717,738 to Hk Tis 835,830. The new Yang-tsze regulations, by whioh coast trade duty deposits were abolished at the Yang-tsze ports, oame into force on April i Ist, and the Yang-tsze river steamer coast trade duty deposit account was olosed by deduoting Hk. Tis. 205,530 from the ooast trade duties'received during the year, in order to provide for refunds on account of deposits already brought to account. Coast trade duties thus actually amounted to Hk. Tis. 1,375,219, as against Hk. Tis 1,011,145 in tlje previous year. The import duties (exolusive of duty on opium) amounted to Hk. Tis. 6,656,623, which, on an import trade valued at Hk. Tis. 1228,955,688 after deducting opium, represent an ad valorem duty of less than 3 per cent.

The greatest increase is shown in the exports. Their value for 1899 is estimated at Hk. Tis. 195,784,832, an inorease of 36,767,683 over the previous year's total, and, as is also the case with the imports, more than double the figures for 1890. The net value of the import trade also shows an advance, though in a lesser degree, being Hk. Tis. 264,748,456, which amounts to 55 million more than the previous year. In this oonneotion it should be remarked that the import of American and Japanese goods has shown the greatest development. The statistics of shipping, however, are still in favor of Great Britain: "Entries from foreign ports were 7004 vessels, aggregating 5,479,000 tons, as compared with 6093 vessels, with a total tonnage of 4,927,000 tons, in 1898. Coastwise entries were 25,350 vessels, making 14,147,000 tons, aa against 19,958 vessels, representing

12,164,000 tons, in 1898. The total ton- _ I nage, entriesand olearances, was 39,268,000 ' tons; and of this total Great Britain j contributed 59 per cent; China, 24 per f cent ; Japan, 7 per cent ; Germany, 5 per _ cent; France, 2 per cent; Sweden and Norway, 1 per cent j Russia, 1 per cent ; i and America, 1 por cent. It may be in- ' teresting to note the percentages contributed by each flag to the total tonnage , entered from foreign ports, which were — ; British, 61; Japanese, 13; German, 8; Frenoh, 6 ; Chinese, 5 ; American, 3 ; Swedish and Norwegian, 2 ; all other flags, 3. The tonnage employed in the foreign trade has approximately doubled since 1890." The respective value of the trade of the different foreign countries with China is difficult to estimate exactly from the statistics provided by this report, owing to the fact that great part of the English trade goes through Hong Kong and ig classed here with the American, Australian, and coast trade that goes through the same port. A very rough estimate, however, would show that the trade of Great Britain cannot fall far short of half of the whole total.