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“...imports .................................................... 8
Nankeens........................................................ 8
Opium .......................................................... 9
Exports........................................................... 9
Beans .......................................................... 10
Bean cake....................................................... 10
oil ........................................................ 11
Total production of beans in South Manchuria.................... 11
Millet.......................................................... 12
Silk ........................................................... 12
Sesamum seed.................................................... 12
Skins........................................................... 12
Coal ........................................................... 12
Prospects for 1910 ............................................. 13
Shipping ..........................................................”
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“...674 Haikuan taels). This total has only once been
exceeded, namely, in 1905, when the value of the trade rose to
10,982,329?. The conditions, however, in this latter year were quite
abnormal. Manchuria had been the scene for the previous 12 months
of the devastating struggle between Russia and Japan, and on the
termination of hostilities, imports were rushed in unprecedented
quantities into the country through Newchwang, the only port of
entry then available, to replace the supplies of which the interior
had been denuded. In 1909, on the other hand, there were four other
openings through which the trade of Manchuria passed to and fro,
the treaty ports of Dairen and Antung on the coast, Suifenho, the
frontier station on the Siberian border, through which merchandise
entering and leaving North Manchuria via Vladivostock Aavels,
and Manchouli, the frontier station for goods en route to and from
Western Siberia and Russia.
The following table gives the details of the total trade of the port
-during...”
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“...prosperity of Dairen must necessarily mean the decline of Newchwang..
As the returns for 1909 show, the trade of Manchuria is developing
with a rapidity which will make all her ports invaluable, and New-
chwang will benefit by the expansion equally with the rest.
Chief features of the trade.The chief feature of the trade of
Manchuria in 1909 was the demand which suddenly sprang up in
Europe for Soya beans, the staple product of the country. My
predecessor, in his report on the trade of Newchwang for 1908, men-
tions the export of beans from Dairen to the United Kingdom as a
new venture made in the autumn of that year. That the experiment
proved a success is evident from the fact that during the year under
review some 235,000 tons of beans were shipped to Europe from
Dairen and an almost equal quantity from Vladivostock, which is
the port of outlet for beans grown in North Manchuria. In this trade
Newchwang has unfortunately been able to take no share, for, as
the beans are not harvested until...”
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“...was 2,481,564?., an increase of 461,333?. over the
figures of 1908. The increase is spread over most of the main staples,
but the chief gain has been in cotton goods.
Cotton goods.The total value of the cotton goods imported was
1,583,075?., as compared with 1,124,744?. in 1908 and 758,880?. in 1907.
The low price of silver not unnaturally affected this trade adversely,
The advance under such unfavourable circumstances is an excellent
index of the increased purchasing power of the people of Manchuria,
especially in view of the competition of Dairen, through which port a
considerably larger proportion of imports found their way into the
interior than in previous years. This increase is the result of the
prosperity which the demand for beans has brought to the country.
A glance at Annex 1 will show the particular items in which the
increases have been greatest.
The foreign cotton yarns and goods imported are supplied almost
entirely by the British Empire, the United States and Japan, in the...”
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“...were also 55,626 cwts. of native sugar
imported directly from Chinese ports. The production of beet sugar
in North Manchuria has not j^et affected the market in the interior.
The refinery established at Ashihho turned out about 35,000 cwts.
in the course of the year, but the quality of the sugar was very in-
different. Another factory is said to be in contemplation at Harbin.
Kerosene.The import of kerosene (6,505,443 gallons) was slightly
less than in 1908, but the consumption shows no tendency to decrease.
Sumatran oil, which is imported in bulk and either tinned locally or
sold by the gallon, appears to be gaining on the American product,
although the quantity of the latter is still considerably greater. There
was also some Russian oil imported from the north, but the sale is
comparatively insignificant. The prospects of Newchwang as an oil-
distributing centre for Manchuria are unfortunately seriously threatened
by the new tariff of the South Manchurian Railway, by which fine
most of the...”
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“...NEWCHWANG.
7
commercial centre in Manchuria, consequently pays the same rate of
freight per ton as oil sent from Dairen to Mukden, though the
distance from Dairen is 248 miles, while from Newchwang it is only
111 miles. Such discrimination appears to be unfair to the trade of
Newchwang, which is handicapped as it is by higher sea freights and
port charges, and bears very hardly too on the foreign oil companies
which, have sunk capital in tanks and buildings afc this port.
Flour.It will be noticed that foreign flour has disappeared from
the returns of 1909. The quantity entering the port has of recent
years been steadily diminishing, although in 1907 no less than
477,170 cwts. were imported. It has been replaced localfy by machine-
made flour from Shanghai, of which the import was 154,941. cwts.,
and in the interior by the product of the Eussian and Japanese mills
in Northern and Central Manchuria. The low price of silver in 1909
made it impossible for foreign flour, which has come in the...”
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“...machiner}^ and implements
and electrical goods. In a vast and thinly populated region like
Manchuria there should be, one would naturally think, a large market
for modern agricultural machinery. The inquiries, however, which
I have made into the subject have convinced me that in South Man-
churia, at any rate, there is no demand whatever for such machinery.
The farms are small and labour is still sufficiently cheap and plentiful
in this part of the country to make labour-saving devices of the kind
unnecessary and unprofitable. The ordinary agricultural instruments
in common use among the peasantry are so admirably adapted
to the needs of the soil and the pockets of the people that they
can scarcely be improved upon, and certainly not undersold by any
similar implements with which we could furnish them. For electrical
goods the prospects are more hopeful, for, in most of the large towns
in Manchuria, electric light and telephone installations are either
already in existence or are contemplated...”
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“...greater than the supply.
Opium.The native imports into Newchwang in 1909 also include
560 cwts. of native opium, valued at 61,216?. In the early days of
Newchwang, Indian opium was only consumed in Manchuria, and
for some 20 years after the opening of the port it constituted the
most valuable item amongst the foreign imports. The natives learnt
in time to cultivate the poppy themselves, and they were able before
the end of the eighties not only to supply their own wants, but to
export the drug in considerable quantities to other parts of China.
The chief centre of production being the Heilungchiang province
in the north. The import of foreign opium consequently declined
until it gradually ceased altogether. The cultivation of the poppy
has now been forbidden throughout the whole of Manchuria, with the
result that opium has again become one of the imports, but with this
difference, that it is practically only the native drug which is now
importedonly 17 piculs in 1909 out of a total of 487...”
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“...success, as in every case there was a heavy loss by leakage.
It is proposed now to ship it in tank steamers, but the loading will,
I fear, be a very lengthy process.
Total 'production of beans in South Manchuria.Before leaving
the subject of beans it may perhaps be of interest to estimate the
total quantity of beans represented by the exports of beans and bean
cake from Newchwang and Dairen in 1909. The figures should give
a fairly correct indication of the production of South Manchuria,
since the consumption by Manchuria of these special products
is very limited, and the two ports between them almost mono-
polise the export. Beans, except to a limited extent, in the form of
bean curd or vermicelli, which is made from the green variety, do...”
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“...combined exports of bean produce
from the two ports was 1,303,000 tons. The export from other places
on the coast may account perhaps for another 30,000 tons, which brings
the total exports from South Manchuria to 1,333,000 tons. The
production, therefore, under favourable conditions, may be safely
estimated at not far short of 1,480,000 tons.
Millet.Next to beans the most valuable export from NeWchwang
was millet, of which 1,321,887 cwts., valued at 231,973?., were shipped
from the port. The export was entirely by junk and to Chinese
ports. There are two kinds of millet exportedtall millet or kaoliang
(Holcus sorghum) and small or spiked millet (Setaria Italica). Tall
millet is the principal and most valuable crop of Manchuria, not even
excepting beans. The annual production in South Manchuria is
estimated at over 2,000,000 tons, but practically all of it is consumed
in the country, where, as already mentioned, it is the staple food of
the people and, the common food of beasts of burden,...”
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“...should
soon develop along its route. At present Hulutao is a wretched
fishing village which it will take many years and a considerable expendi-
ture of capital to convert into an important commercial base. Chin-
chow itself is a small but fairly flourishing town, situated about 100
miles west of Newchwang, with which it is connected by the Imperial
Chinese Northern Railway. The proposed line is intended to develop
the Mongolian districts, lying west of the Japanese and Russian rail-
ways, in Manchuria as far as Tsitsihar, where it meets the Trans-
Siberian Railway. Thence the line is to be continued due north to
Aigun, a small town on the Amur River, a few miles east of Blagove-
schensk. Much of the country to be traversed is poor and subject
to drought, and very little of it is under cultivation, but there are
many districts along the route of great natural fertility and some
with considerable mineral possibihties. From an agricultural point
of view, the country west of Changchun, in the...”
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