Tue volume of Reports on Trade at the Treaty Ports of China, issued from the Customs press, is becoming, yearly, a more valuable contribution to our knowledge of the country and of its resources. The various reports of the Commissionersfor the year 1869 are of exceptional interest, and are enriched in some cases by appendices giving va-Jnable information regarding products of special importance, and other matters bearing on commercial interests.
We are tempted first to glance at the River ports; and begin with Hankow, regarding whose trade Mr. Hobson has collated 2 quantity of statistical and descriptive information which it will be difficult to sketch concisely in a_review. The total import trade of Hankow is worth about is. 16,000,000, [and the export trade about Tls. 14,000,000. Piece goods naturally attract first notice, under the former head; and gratify us by showing a steady increase during thefonr past years.
1866. 1867. 1868. 1869. 1,102,317. 1,297,820. 1,806,877. 2,196,070. OF these last, 440,000 pieces were sent inland under transit pass daring 1869, and Mr. Hobson tells us that the system has, so far as the Hakwang provinces are concerned, worked remarkably well. Atleast, no case of detention nor of exaction has of late years been brought forward; and, artil foreign merchants are allowed to travel unmolested through the interior, with their own stock of goods, he does not see that any superior system can be inaugurated. "The chief inland market on which foreign fabrics are placed, is Siangtan, a hsien city situated some 100 li beyond Changsha, the provincial capital of Hunan. This place, which may be aptly termed the Hankow of Hunan, dates its importance asa depot from the days when foreign trade was restricted to Canton," and it has retained its position notwithstanding the change effected in the course of trade. It is ssu; ited that enquiries at this town might elicit valuable information regarding the distribution of foreign goods through theinterior.
Another interesting feature in the import trade is, that the cheapness of bean and pen oil brought from the northern ports has caused them, for the first time, to enter into consumption, The oil was nob at first appreciated by the natives, who found it less palatable than their own local product but their. repugaance was overcome by its cheapness, and the whole quantity imported, 45,000 peculs, passed into consumption. Native raw cotton is also largely imported, for use in Huuanand Szechuen, where itis made into native cloth, The import of opium has declined from 4240 peculs in 1867 to 2869 in '68, and 2608in 69; but this isnot to be wondered at, "now thatench opium shop keep. er in this and the surrounding districts, advertises native drag for sale." And not only has it become a common ar-tide of local sale, but it has began to figure in the export tables, which show that 483 peculs left Hankow in 1869, Provincial regulations have been issued by the native authorities, fixing the duty at Tls. 7.5.0 less than that paid on foreign drag. Their theory is, "thatit unjust to debar the native from tref. ticking in an article which the foreigner can deal in ad libitum; and that, as opium is now a product of China—which fact they own is to be deplored,—it is just as well to collect a duty thereon as to allow it to be smuggled, The reduced rate of duty is arranged for, to counter-balance the value of the article, as compared with its foreign rival." The price of native opiam in the Hankow market at the end of 1869 was Tls. 352 per pecal for Ist class Yann Tls. 336 for Kweichow, and Tls. 320 for Szechuen—these prices including Tls. 53 of duty. Adding Tls. 25 for the Customs duty and Tls. 5 freight, it will be seen that the best drag can then be Inid down in Shanghai at Tls. 380. Mr. Hobson however, has not been content with these particulars of the local trade. Knowing the interest which attaches to any infor-motion connected with the production opiam in China, he sent a special messenger, early in the season, to travel through the producing districts of Szechuen, and gives in an appendix an interesting report of his observations. This man estimated the probable yield of Yunnan atabont 20,000, that of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.