th Sept. Mu. Octavius Johnson commences his report on the Trade of Kiukiang for 1896 by pointing out that there is but a trifling difference in the total value of the trade for 1896 compared with that of 1895, but that the factors in that total are very different, as, though imports had increased by H. Tls. 1,460,000, there had been a corresponding falling off in the value of exports, The increase in imports was vaticcable in nearly every article, but more especially in cotton piece-goods and yare, five-sixths of which was of English and Indian manufacture, respectively, and the remainder mostly American, and Mr, Johnson gives the following reasons as accounting in some measure for the increase "Tt is partly due to the increase in the value of cash as compared to the dollar, Labour employed in making native cloth has to be paid for in cash at the enhanced value, which gives an advantage on the market to foreign stuffs, and this applies also to vara, but beyond this it seems that foreign cotton stuffs and yarn are being offered to consumers under more favourable! conditions than formerly. During the year a large firm is said to have opened business in the capital of the province, which has commenced sending its own travellers to visit Shanghai- and purchase goods. These goods are all conveyed to them direct through Kiukiang, and supplied by them to various districts in the south of the province, which before used to take them in exchange for local produce at different: places which had commercial relations with them, such as Neankin, the capital of the province ing this on the east, and several in Fakieu, the province at our immediate south. The supplies thus obtained were, of course, very irregular, and the prices acsordingly not to be depended on, but it is expected that the security which is now offered of always being able to obtain supplies from the capital, will control the present irregularity of prices, and thus ensure an increased demand for the future."
The import of woollens had greatly increased, to the disadvantage of the native trade in silk and satins. There was a falling off in the import of tin and pig lead, but iron and steel showed so satisfactory an increase as to justify the hope that imported nail-rods were displacing the native product, For some years past there has been a steady decrease in the quantity of opium imported, thought the value has been maintained, owing to exchange and other causes, so that the amount expended by the natives in purchase of the drug each year continues about the same. At Kiukiang, as at other open ports, the import of the native drug increases year by year, and though reliable statistics are not obtainable, Mr. Johnson says that the amount of Szechuan drag imported is said to have doubled itself in the last two years. Hunan drug is consumed in certain districts of the province, The consumption of kerosene vil is greatly extending, and naturally the greatest percentage of increase: is shown in the rissian product, 'I'here is a considerable falling off in the import of sugar, owing firstly to the increased cost of production, and secondly to the competition with native sugar from Kansu that has the advantage of lighter taxation. As Mr. Johnson says "Sugar in the hands of foreigners is all conveyed by junk to its several destinations, and to those in the Hupeh province it goes under transit pass without difficulty, but in this province (Kiangsi) the likin authorities raise so many difficulties about it, that it has been thought better for the present to pay what they demand than to risk trouble. The amount of this demand is really not half of the published tariff, and varies according to the destination, but it is calculated on the average to be three times that of the half duty for teausit pass, and it*is only on this account that the Kansu sugar is able to compete successfully. The sugar is imported from Hongkong: and Swatow, vid Shanghai, and consists of both refined and -unrefined. Before 1895, when the business with Hongkong first commenced, the importation of refined sugar was only 10 per cent of the whole amount, it is now estimated at 40 per cent, and if proper facilities for transit can be obtained for it, it is likely to increase. It is the only merchandise besides tea dealt in by foreigners at this port."
When dealing with exports Mr. Jebsen commences with.the principal product of the province, tea; but his remarks about it are by no means of a cheerful nature, for bad weather at the picking season spoiled much of the crop so that it could find no market, and even some that was purchased and shipped to London: turned. out to be mouldy, and consequently unsaleable there, Mr. Johnson considers that China teas are giving way more and more to teas from Ceylon and India, while the enhanced price of copper cash keeps the buying price of Kiukiang teas very high, and he' remarks that "the prospects are no better for this year, cush being dearer now than they were at this time last year, and, in fact, it seems that unless some radical improvement in the mode of preparing the leaf can be introduced, the teas from here must gradually fall out of the English market. I hear that quite lately operations, such as are employed in the manufacture of Indian teas, have been introduced in the Foochow district with much success."
"Mr, Johnson laments the wretchedly unsatisfactory state into which the once famous potteries of Kingtéchén have fallen, as the specimens of porcelain now turned out are. so inartistic that they find no sale in Western countries. It is certain that what might be a flourishing industry, and a source of wealth to the province has been allowed to fall off and decay, so that the fine porcelain of former yenrs is no more known, These potteries were first established in the Sung Dynasty, A.D. 960-1278, and their products became famous not only in China but all over the world. No wonder, then, that Mr. Johnson deplores the decadence of this industry, and says of them that "with great advantages, and unparalleled experience, both personal and historical, which must be at the service of the controllers of the works, it is a thousand pities that they do not introduce some new life from abroad to start fresh vigour into this moribund institution, and render it again worthy of its ancient renew!
As regards shipping Mr. Johnson says that the number of steamers employed in the trade was larger than that of the previous year, the increase being very slightly in favour of those under the Chinese flag. The Russian ten firms, having failed to come to an arrangement with the regular steamers to carry their tea from Hankow, chartered outside steamers for the purpose,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.