1895.
Yaere is nothing sensational in Mr. Jamieson's report of the trade here last year, but it is, as all Mr. Jamieson's work is, thoughtful and comprehensive, and those who are personally concerned in the trade under review will read it with as much pleasure as those who take only a general interest in the progress of the commercial capital of China. Mr. Jamieson's very first remark is that "the trade of the port continues to show a very satisfactory increase and he notes that the foreign trade "has nearly doubled itself in the last decade—a growth which, in the face of the small encouragement it gets from the Chinese Government, is very satisfactory." We do not propose to reproduce the statistics given by Mr. j Jamieson, but rather to notice his general remarks and the conclusions he draws from the figures before him. His first table is a comparative statement of the foreign trade of the port, ihis next of the interport trade in [foreign bottoms, and he adds to the latter table that "it is, however, to be 5 remembered that this is by no means the whole of the native trade of Shanghai, as it does not include the immense traffic carried on. in native junks, the number of which does not appear materially to diminish. It has always been a great argument with the Chinese officials against the extension of steam traffic to point to the injury that would be done to native craft, an argument indeed not unknown in more advanced communities, The persistence 10 of the junk traffic of Shanghai is a very ood object lesson to the contrary."
Much of the gain in the value.of the exports Mr. Jamieson shows to be'dua to the great increase in the use of steam filatures. Silver prices of local produce are gradually rising also: "'The continuation of the war with Japan until. May slightly hindered trade with the North, but on the whole 1895- was a very good year, exchange being fairly steady, and it is of more importance to the merchant that this should be the case, than that the price of silver should be high.
Mr. Jamieson's'third table is designed to show the share of the British Empire in the total import trade; and ho notes with satisfaction that the figures give little countenance to the idea that our trade is being driven out of the neutral markets of the world by German and other foreign competition. In 1882 the British proportion at Shanghai was 79 per cent, in 1894 76 per cent, and in 1895 79 per cent. he success of the Germans is in minor articles, such as needles, dyes, matches, lamps, etc., and in all the great staples we more than hold our own, And he adds "'The one point in which German merchants appears to get the better of us is their success in obtaining contracts for arms and war material for the Chinese Government. In dealing with the mandarins, however, the personal element counts for so much that no general inference can be drawn, and it has also to be observed that, even when these contracts have been made by local German firms, it by no means necessarily follows that they are placed in Germany; many of them have, in fact, gone to England. Moreover, since the conclusion of the war, this business is entirely at a standstill."
The share taken by Great Britain in the Shavghai exports is very much smaller, however. In 1882 it was 44 per cent, in 1894 32 per cent, and in 1895 27 per cent. There are two causes for this decline; (1) the cessation of the demand for China tea in London; (2) the despatch direct to continental ports of merchandise that formerly went to london for distribution. There was a great increase in the exports to Japan, consisting principally of raw cotton for the Osaka mills, In the carrying trade, however, we still have by far the lion's share; while on the coast, putting aside the amount that goes to the China Merchants' Ca., we have almost the monopoly.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.