Wuchow merchants were, on the whole, quite satisfied with their year's trading, says the local Commissioner of Customs (Mr...G. Thorne) in his report for 1990. There was only one bankruptcy recorded, though this was a serious one of a big piece goods business. The second rice crop was a good one and rice plentiful and cheap; the sugar crop was fair. It may be safely prophesied that manganese ore wil] be exported in considerable quantities during the coming year. Cotton-growing is being developed in the province, seeds of the American cotton plant from the Nantung farms in Kiangsu having been purchased. The tannery at Wuchow, though not yet, perhaps, a great success, has been exporting leather to Hongkong and Shanghai as well as to~ up-river places. A company for the manufacture of glass is being started Wuchow.
The total revenue collection for the year was Hk. Tls. 523,792, am increase of Hk. Tls. 25,000 odd over that of 1919. But this increase, except for an additional Tls. 1,000 in tonnage dues, is accounted for by increased import duty to the amount of Hk. Tls. 30,000, with regard to which it must be borne in mind that 1920 is the first_complete year during which the Revised Import Tariff of 1919 has been applied, and as export, coast trade, and transit. dues all show slight decreases, the year's result, if considered independently of the conditions narrated in the previous paragraph, is not too satisfactory.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.