The gross value of foreign imports—Tls. 265.500,000—was a record in the history of the port, being Tls. 6.000,000 above the former record of 1905 and representing an increase of Tls. 44,750,000. or 20 per cent. on the 1918 figures. There was an increase of 30 per cent. on 1918 in cloth imports. This gain was almost entirely accounted for by large imports of Manchester cottons, and an outstanding feature of the year was the rapid recuperation of the British piece goods trade. That the quantity of yarn imported was still less than half the 1913 total is not surprising in view of the great strides made by Chinese spinning mills during the war. It is signi-}ficant. says the report. that- while in 1913. 1,200,000. piculs of yarn were imported from abroad and 500.009 piculs of Chinese yarn were exported to native ports, by 1919 imports of foreign yarn had dropped to 300,000 piculs and exports of Chinese yarn had risen to over 1,000,000 piculs. The expansion of the local mills is further shown by the fact that importations of raw cotton increased 30 per cent. as compared with 1918 and reached a total almost double the figure of 1913,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.