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“...off by 30 to 40 per cent. Some 20 years ago, when the sugar
growing industry here was at the height of its prosperity, the import
of bean cake was from 3,500,000 to 4,000,000 pieces per annum, of
which 3,000,000 to 3,500,000 pieces came from Newchwang and
the balance from Chefoo. The Newchwang market was then
controlled entirely by the Swatow buyers, the Japanese taking only
about 500,000 pieces each year. At present it is they who rule
the northern market for bean cake, the fish which they formerly
used as fertiliser, in the form of fish guano, being now dried and salted
and sent to China for sale as food.
The actual importations for 1907 were as follows :—
From—
Newchwang ..................300,000 pieces
Chefoo........................600,000 „
Hankow........................100,000
Hankow (small pieces and
7-catty pieces) ... ... 500,000 piculs
Or a total of 2,199,443 cwts., value 600.415L, as compared with
3,159,276 cwts., value 835,430/!., imported during the year 1906.
Beans...”
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“...SWATOW.
5
and coast freights ruled low all the time, the general dulness of this
market causing the supply of tonnage to be greater than the demand.
Imports from Newchwang and Chefoo fell off by about 50 per cent.,
from Hankow 20 per cent, and from Wuhu 60 per cent. Freights
from the Yangtse ports were consequently lower than usual,
especially from Wuhu, on account of the scarcity of rice.
As regards coal freights these also touched bottom during last
year, viz. :—
Per Ton.
Dol. c.
Hongay to Swatow ... ... ... 1 25
Moji to Swatow............ 1 40
Emigration.—According to the customs returns the emigration
figures for 1907 were the highest on record, a total of 153,825 emi-
grants having left the port for the Straits Settlements, Siam,
Netherlands India, &c. Since 1903, when the total reached 134,421,
there has been no such exodus from this district, the average for
the years 1904—06 having been about 107,000 and for the years
1900-02 about 100,000 per annum.
The number of emigrants...”
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