2th July.
Next to Tientsin the treaty port which suffered most from last' year's Uroubles is Newehiwang, and n very good and impartial account of what occurred there last year, and how the normal trade of the port was affected, is given by Mr. C. A. V. Bowra, the Acting Commissioner of Customs, in his contribution to the annual volume of Returns of Trade. The season opened last year, he tells us, with brilliant prospects." Wonderful as had been the progress during the preceding year, there was every indication that-it was about to be exceeded. The ice in the river broke up on the 23rd of March, and the first steamer of the year entered the harbour on the 25th. Before the end of the month 13 steamers had arrived, bringing 14,000 native passengers from Tientsin and Chefoo—an index to the active trade that was anticipated. By the beginning of April commerce was in full swing, the harbour was-crowded with shipping, the vessels arriving and leaving with fall cargoes, The enormous importations of 1899 had in no way lutted the insatiable appetite of Manchuria. The interior had absorbed almost the whole stock of merchandise in the port at the close of the previous season. The goods coming in at the opening were, quickly taken up at good prices, importers realising high profits. Exports also arrived from inland in great quantity. During the June quarter beancake went away to the extent of over 2,000,000 piculs, quite an unprecedented amount for this period of the year. Bean oil, melon seeds, and medicines also left in quantities far exceeding any previous experience. Other prominent features were the absence of bubonic plague, which had disappeared the previous December and showed no signs of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.