NEWCHWANG will continue to be specially interesting until it is really evacuated by the Russians, and even then it will be interesting to watch it and see what success the Russians have in capturing its trade for their new port Dalny. One great advantage Dalny has is that, as we have already mentioned, goods landed there or at Port Arthur go into Manchuria without paying the usual Customs import duty; but Mr. Hosie remarks that the railway freight from Port Arthur has practically absorbed the amount of the duty which would have been leviable had the goods been landed at Newchwang. The railway freight is evidently, however, to be reduced, for Mr. Hosie also tells us that "arrangements have been made whereby produce from the interior of Manchuria will be laid down by rail as cheaply in Dalny as in Newchwang." He adds that if this is to be achieved, " the line from it (Dalny) to Harbin—some 595 miles—must be doubled, the railway must be properly xdminis-! tered, and the Chinese merchants who do the great bulk of the of the country must receive as treatment and as great facil they do in the treaty ports of China, With these conditions fulfilled—and the doubling of the line from Harbin to Dalny is not a slight one—Dalny has a very promising future, and it will undoubtedly be the terminus of a large passenger traffic between Asia and Europe.
Newchwang did very well in 1901 considering the loss and obstruction caused to trade by the Russian military occupation. "The disbandment of the greater part of the native soldiery—the only police of the country—by order of the Russian military authorities when they occupied Manchuria in 1900, let loose many thousands of armed men who forthwith preyed upon trade and continue, as avowed brigands or in the guise of insurance guilds, to rob and blackmail traders and farmers and to terrorise the country generally. So formidable did these brigands become in the east of the southern province—the leader had a following of some 7,000 men—that the Russian authorities deemed it ad-lo to treat with and employ them as police." Brigandage flourishes, and robbery is considered not more discreditable than agricultural labour. The Russians have not the necessary force, if they have the will, to suppress brigandage and give trade the security without which it languishes, and they will not permit the native authorities to maintain an adequate force. "The insecurity that has prevailed in Manchuria throughout the years has so disorganised the finances of the port that the quarterly settling-days had to be deferred, and the balancing of accounts by pay: ment of hard silver had to be postponed, as ready money could be had only at avery high premium." The discovery of a case of plague in August last year struck another blow at the trade of Newchwang; and though the disease did not assume an epidemic form, "places having shipping relations with Newchwan took fright, declared the port infected, and imposed specific treatment of cargo, such as the disinfection of skins and furs, before the goods would be received by them. This, of course, involved delay ani additional cxpense and to that extent affected the trade of the por The Russians, it will be remembered, when they seized Newchwang in 1900, took over the native customs and likin offices and ordered the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs "to collect, simultaneously with duty, likin on imports and exports carried by steamer, technically a breach of treaty. Care was taken not to interfere with goods in the hands of foreign merchants, but the unfortunate Chinese merchant had to pay likin as well as duty on foreign and' native goods before they could be passed for imrt or export through the custom ouse. In other words, nearly all the foreign and native goods landed and' shipped at Newchwang by steamer had to pay a tax which is not sanctioned by treaty if levied in the port."
We do not propose' this morning to reproduce the statistics given by Mr. Hosie; it is enough to give the figures of the total trade of Newchwang for the past three years, exclusive of treasure, in Haikuan tael 1899. 1999, 1901. Foreign imports..21,775,930 7,792,434 17,056,813 Native imports. 2 6,463,176 Exports. 557 18,742,22)
Totals.48,357,623 was the record year.
A short table shows how American heavy cottons have almost entirely displaced similar British manufactures. Hitherto British grey shirtings have held their own; but Mr. Hosie peines out that India and Japan are beginning to contest this field, and Japan is also carrying competition into several other branches of the cotton goods trade, Foreign sundries show a very respectable increase.
Silk is arising industry, Tatung-kon, near the month of the Yah River, is now a great silk centre, there' being regular communication with Chefoo by steamers under the Inland Waters Regulations, and the export from that corner of Manchuria in 1901 amounted to 27,012 cwt.
The value of the junk trade of Newchwang in 1901 was about Haikuan Tis, 10,000,000, and the total revenue derived from the junk trade, consisting of import and export duty, coast trade duty, tonnage dues, inward and outward likin, and native opium tax, amounted to Hk, T's, 433,192.
The railway from Shanhaikuan to Newchwang was maintained by the Russians in running order during 1901, but no work was done on the Hsinminting extension. The Russian Manchurian railway was completed in November last, but traveling is still very slow work. Mr. Hosie mentions a visit to Dalny in April last, in which the 154 miles from Newchwang to Nangalin, the junetion for Dalny, took 13 hours. As to Dalny itself, he says that the har-hour and other works will not be completed for three years, Finally, we note that the coal mines connected with the Russian railway, of which so much was expected two yeats ago, have not proved a success,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.