Tae application by the German Consul-General to the Chamber of Commerce for information as to the amount of gold exported from and imported into Chin gives us an opportunity of draw. ing attention to the want of informa. tion on bullion movements in China and Hongkong. It-is partly true, as the Committee of the Chamber say in their "Report, that there is little doubt that with portable article such as gold, large quantity may be imported and exported without any record. We should be inclined to say that the imports and exports of gold which are unrecorded in the Customs or the manifests of ships may in the aggregate and iv any year amount to considerable sum. Bat do importations or exportations of gold now take place to any great extent at any particular time which are not recorded No doubt the value of gold is occasionally underatated by dishonest shippers in order to save freight gold is also sometimes carried in Taggoge, on which no freight whatever is paid, and these may amount to considerable sum in the course of mouths, Bat it is probable that such movementa of gold from and into any port of China about balance. Unless something peculiar has occurred in the affairs of @ port or district which has auride transactions in gold of more than ordinary importance in a given period, aay one year, it is unlikely that there will fbe avy great différéuce between the surreptitious imports and exports of the article, The same unrecorded movements of gold take place all over the world, and in the onse of the United 0 which @ stream of immi-for years, most of whom brought some capital with them, the aggregate import from this source has attained euch dimensions as to be taken into account by sta In like manner large sums used to be brought into China from Anetralia and California by returfing natives, "Bat the estab ment of trustworthy banks in California must have consider ably lessened the amount carried home in the form of gold dust, double eagles and bars, for ® Chinese What we now wish to point out is not only the desirability but the nec sity of the mercantile and banking community being farnished with as fall information as can be obtained from the manifests of vessels of the import and export of pallion in Hongkong. At present it does not appear as if any official records of these were kept in the Cvlony. Now and then we get onsual items in the newspapers, or hear that large quantities of dotlaré or or gold ace arriving or leaving. Bat absolutely nothing that is worth a mos ment's attention is known about the bullion moveweuts in what probably is the third Ingest money market in the Enst, There is scarcely a place in Asia in which the movements of bullion if they were recorded in a trustworthy manner would be more interesting and valuable. Hongkong as the centre of a great trade in European goods, which are parohased buted from her, ins Inrge remittances to make to the West and to provide most of the funds by which the produce of the South of China which is sent to the Straits, India, Europe, and Ameri financed. The Colony as to find money for the rice trade with Siam, Saigon and other placer, which ove assuaies very large proportion atoll times considerable, In this latter branch of finance gold and silver ship-monte from Hongkong play an im. portant part, as they do, though to much greater amounts, in the Indian trade with the ovlony, At the same time gold and dolinrs are or may be pouring into the Colony from many quarters, bat on all these points nothing that is trustworthy is known, Yet we do not hesitate to say that without more knowledge than we oan at present command of the bullion movements outward and inward which take place in Hongkong, it is impossible for any one to form an accurate estimate of the position or need of the money markets the East, In ordinary times bankers d merchants may dispense with such information and get along without the want of it harming them. But in unusual times in the Enstern money markets such information becomes ab-solately necessary, and it is these un. auueual times which' require pro against, For instance within the last week or so tleré has been a oonisidere able and unexpected collapse' iit! exe change, India is down and China follows, and on looking round for the it seems io be supplied-by the heavy shipments of silver from—Hongkong to India, 'These according tothe vague romonre' which have reached us Lave amounted to three to four handred thousand pounds, a considerable; enw, and sufficient to depreds rates, Itia not however upon one incident in one seas oon's movements of bullion in Hongkong and China that we would suggest the publication in Hongkong, and in authoritative a way as may be, of the er, and, if possible, showing the amounts of each, But we would do 80 in the general interests of commerce, Transactions are closely interwoven now a days, and when there are bullion, and to a large among absolutely necessary that they should be made known, It is us necessary tothe money market in Ohina, emall as it 001 this information would be tooarrentbusithere is another; it would enable us to acquire some knowledge of Chinn's position on the silver question, ball that we know is exe ovediugly indefinite, Chinn is spai of us capable, under certain oiroums Hanons, of absorbing y quantity of iver. This opinion may be -correct, bat we cannot prove it to be ey, For we do not know whether China has in lute years imported or exported more silver, Thesereturns, published in Hong. kong; would enable us to form an opinion on this, and we commend the consideration of the issue of them to the authorit legislative and commercial, and the Press of the Culon;
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.