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“...increases of 1,702,441?. in the value of foreign im-
ports and of 2,676,956/!. in the combined values of native exports and
re-exports over the figures for 1909. The increase in the value of
foreign imports is due, however, solely to the phenomenal advance in
the market price of opium, the value of the gross imports of this com-
modity being 1,835,852?. in excess of those in the previous year.
There was a marked decline in the imports of most descriptions of
piece-goods, especially in the case of sheetings and shirtings, dyed
cottons being the only goods which showed any noticeable improve-
ment. As will be seen later, when the piece-goods trade is considered
separately, the decline in imports had a marked effect in reducing
stocks at Shanghai to a reasonable figure. The export trade generally
was in a healthy condition, and most of the commodities exported
show increases in sterling value, the most striking advance being in
the shipments of raw cotton, the value of which was some 1,600,000...”
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“...664,852 706,400 409,802 267 334 : 2,095,733 1,274,948
19071" ...... 216,533 172,451 1,165,466 848,768 741,066 507,725 267 310 ! 2,123,332 1,529,254
1908J ...... 277,333 240,346 956,933 844,397 594,800 506,057 667 905 1,829,733 1,591,705
1909 ...... 315,866 254,932 1,013,066 685,252 650,533 434,431 133 189 1,979,598 1,374,804
1910 ...... 278,000 442,691 807,733 1,273,905 528,666 828,979 133 314 i 1,614,532 2,545.889
* Also Persian opium, 533 lbs., value 298Z. f Also Persian opium, 1,466 lbs., value 9111.
% Also Persian opium, 400 lbs., value 3561....”
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“...9 SHANGHAI.
This amazing increase in the market value of opium shows clearly
that the measures taken by the Chinese and Indian Governments are
having a marked effect upon the supply, though it would appear that
the anti-opium propaganda amongst the people is not meeting with
equal success in decreasing the demand. In the international settle-
ment at Shanghai the number of shops selling opium has doubled in
the last two years, in spite of the fact that the fees for licences have
been raised from 1 dol. -50 c. to 10 dol. a month in 1905 to 10 to 40 taels
in 1910, and the extravagantly high wholesale prices have compelled
the native dealers to resort to extensive adulteration in order to sell
their stocks at a price within the reach of the poorer classes. There is,
however, a limit beyond which adulteration cannot be carried, and it
may reasonably be anticipated that if the restrictions on production
continue, opium will within a few years be a luxury procurable only
by the wealthy. As...”
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