Commenting on the difficulties which Swatow merchants had to contend with during 1920, the Commissioner of Customs there (Mr. J. J. Moorhead) in his annual report lays unusual stress upon the "petty feuds and antagonisms of military commanders" to which the people of the district were exposed, every interest being subordinated to military aims. Throughout the year, the boycott of Japanese goods was vigorously enforced by the Student's Associ tion, but small quantities were imported by dint of much secrecy and the substitution of foreign packing material. Despite many disturbing events of the year, however, unmistakable signs of a recovery lih. trade were visible. If stati-tical values be accepted as an index of commercial expansion, 1920, notwithstanding its frequent set-backs, stands __pre-eminent, the net value of trade, which is, estimated at 60.876 million Haikuan taels, being 2.346 million taels in excess of the _previous highest record of 1916. Compared with 1919, net foreign imports fell over 2.874 million taels, a decrease which is more than counterbalanced by the rise in rative imports of, approximately, 3 million taels, leaving exports with ian increase of 5.288 million taels to account almost entirely for the surplus. In drawing any inference, however, with regard to these figures a fact that should not be lost sight of is that commodities generally have risen in value.
The revenue yielded a total of Hk. Tls. 1,109,889. Excepting import duty, which declined Hk. Ts 35,794, each of the various heads of collection showed an improvement. Export duty advanced Hk. Tis, 77,162; coast trade duty, Hk. Tls. 10,476; tonnage dues, Hk. Ts. 6,505; and transit dues, Hk. Ts. 1,903,—giving a net increase over the previous year's tota] of Hk. Tis, 60,152. In the Native. Customs receipts, amounting to Hk. Tis, 136,452, a further slight increase is recorded, the collection being the highest since the Maritime Customs assumed control in 1901.
As regards the number and tonnage of vessels entered and cleared, which reached an aggregate of 2,054 vessels, of a tonnage of 2,921,569, freight facilities may be said to "@ resumed pre-war conditions. Of this total, the British flag is represented by 1,696 vessels and 2,113,765 tons; the Japanese flag claims 362 vessels and 414,804 tons; the Chinese flag, 266 vessels and 186,768 tons; and the American flag, 34 vessels and 38,760 tons.
In net value foreign imports aggregated Hk. Tls. 12,232,185, a decline of Hk. Tls. 2,874,665. During the.early part of the year, when exchange was favourable, foreign commodities were freely
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.