An Increase of Tis 150,000, but Much Less Than What Should Have Been Tiexrsin News Stavice Tientsin, Jan. 4.
A welcome note in the political and economic discord of North China is the publication of the Chinese Mari time and Native Customs' Revenues for 1924, showing an increase in the Maritime department of Tls. 6,050,000 over the record amount of Tls. 68,500,000 in 1923. Tientsin's increase over its previous best figures of Tls. 150,000 is also gratifying, considering the disrupt tion of trade during the last four months of the year.
It has, of course, long been known that Tientsin's revenue would show Jan increase, and at one time it was. thought that the increase would be much higher than Tis, 150,000, Back in August the receipts ha already reached more than, a mile ion taels more than the figures for the same period last year. Had it, not been for the disastrous effects. of the recent fighting, which held up and still holds up the coal exports through Chinwangtao (which is linked with Tientsin in the records) and general export and import trade, the increase must easily have maintained its million tael advance.
As it Ss the Tientsin and Chinwamtao revenue for 1924 was Th 7,414,100, as against Tls. 7,263,400 for 1923. The latter was an increase over 1922 of Tls. 218,000. remarkable that Tientain should show any increase at all, for it has been in the thick of the fight ing while Dairen, free of all this shows a decrease of Tls. 278,000. Had the country of which Tientsin the centre, been able to progress formally, undisturbed by civil Yentsin should have emulate ed Hankow's jump of Tls. 1,910,800, from Tis, 4,285,400 in 1923 to "Tls. 15,595,700 in' 1924.
Naturally, as the business man will understand, Tientsin has yet to feel statistically and economically speaking, the full effects of the stoppage of trade for the past four or five months. The situation at. the present time is rapidly approaching. a crisis. The native importers are reluctant to take any chances of shipping merchandise to the me terior, even if there was sufficient, space, and this hesitation ly holding millions of taels' worth of ports in Tientsin godowns, The wei dent of weerued interest and overhead charges are swiftly wipe ing out all profit and may" soon The lack of carriers, especially on the rail lines, ix also having a stifing effect on exports, practically no appreciable Quantities of exports having been received here for some time. The. position of the Kailan Mining Administration is typical, The aver: age tonnage of this company's coal supplied to the Tientsin market is well over 3,000 tons daily whereas; it can only manage to deliver. loss than 400." While dozens of railway. engines and hundreds of cars are lying dle at Tientsin and a railway stations, kept there a whim of Chang Tso-lin's soldiers, the coal company can get no more than two wheezy old engines that fare constantly breaking down and that have not been in the repair shops for several months. The enormity of this public crime seems to leave the Hunghutze warlord quite unmoved. To make matters worse the commandeered engines, although idle, are of course kept in readiness for immediate use and are therefore consuming—hundres of, tons of coal daily, a sheer criminal waste of public property, and at the sume time a deliberate interference the legitimate commerce of the country. We personally counted 14 engines at Tientsin Central Station alone, several of which were attach-fed to one and two cars, used as special courters up and down the Hine for the many swanking satellite generals of Chang Tso-lin. Three of them were big American locomo-ives from the Suiyuan line. A glance at the pressure gauges of all of these engines showed that they were ready to move at an instay's notice. Fine military preparedness: but rotten economics for the people of this country.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.