IRADING conditions in Tientsin are described in this article which analyzes the Customs returns for the port and reveals ome interesting features of the situation.
The difficulties confront ug foreign merchants are also described and it is pointed out that restrictions placed upon foreign goods constitute a big advantage to Japanese merchants. spat tome rogue "eof the interior; secondly, the ever-(nereasing vexatious restrictions Im-Peat rae Gees Seki Po te of posed on foreign trade; and thirdly.
Senthciaae atate nara the confused currency conditions.
Peso al ado New Currency Forbidden "lis icon, however i any 'Th Chinese still control large parts ere tatety earl Jot the country. Where this is the Miuyof" theres ravens tease, the new currency is forbidden 22 teen! ter finder penalty of death, so that all Imports tne produce bought in those' parts has to be bought with the old notes, More-ie over, in these guerilla arees the peasantry are being forcibly _pre-an ner ease of $50.012015 Vented from growing cotton, peanuts up'thn'tneredie'were Stet, Making rhe, uvea principle. articles makin fof other crops that the 'Japanese might Want, and are made to grow {Cereals and flour 3816 million dollars oda crops for food or that can be other-Esiton' piece goods. 8 wise used locally.
Sten 3 In the province of Shans, on the {Tn the carly part of 1987 there was other hand, the boot is on the other still considerable smuggling going on Teg: the Japanese have been trying in these three articles, 50 that the to enforce a kind of economic block Customs returns did not represent ade and starve the guerillas out by the full amount of imports. The in-preventing imported goods from ter ease In imports is therefore not 0 reaching them. Then again, owing large as appears at frst sight. More-to the war, the supply of" freight over, further careful examination cars available for the carriage of of there Migures "reveals. very" dis-merchandise is very limited. It is quieting {nels as regards" foreism obvious that all this, in Itself, must trade other than Japanese. constitute a very serious hindrance Of the above 50 million odd dol-fo trade and the free movement of Jars increase Sapanese imports "acfoods to and from the coast. count for $40311,00 or nearly 80 per cent, Japanese imports of cereals 'Trade Restrictions Cehiolly rice) and flour increased. by Even more serious, however, are 20"'and cotton pice goods by. eight the trade restrictions' that are. being constantly imposed by the Japanese military authorities. The wool and An Ominous Pact skins brought down from Mongolia It, however, we exclude the item via" Potow, the terminus of - the cereals and flour, a still more ominous Peking-Suiyuan line, form one of the Tact emerges. 'The remaining) total main exports of "Tientsin. In the imports show an increase of $12,075, early days, after the conquest of that 039 over' those for the same pene territory, the Japanese did for a time 1937, whereas Japanese imports alone establish a kind of monopoly in these (after deducting from them to cereals products. A large part of the wool and. flour) show an increase thus required was shipped in motor-$20,000,817. That is to say: the lorries along the motor highway via ports inia Tientsin from other Dolonor to Manchoukuo, where it countries than Japan during the first was used for making army blankets seven months of 1998 have actually Jand uniforms. Tater on, the mono-fallen off by eight million dotters. poly was lifted, either" because of Exports from Tentsin:—foreign protests or, more likely, "Tonuary to July 199 stonasg.a4a|heeause the Army authorities had as it 123300] much as they could use for the time An Increase of Basso [Dn Embargo on Wool Among tha 180 expan eon Anyhow, in the summer and autumn of this year foreign firms managed to obtain supplies of wool oslo er he tne from Potow. But as soon as these sen a ita note reached Tientsin the military, auc Poet at nee thorities in North China placed an a an er" ie embargo on the export of wool. The Dull: of the wool is said to be in SELS huey wet ated hands of German firms who have made contracts and paid for it. But ses BU scot ie Sug up-to-date their protests have been A ay oe ing one nor without effect, the military authorities justifying' the step on the plea Yate dite woud live sao Sk thu "or of military necessity. In recent weeks the Japanese in Mongolia have See Saas Sys brought in currency control and ear-[goes can only be exported from there, tage Dern Hate paid for in foreign currency the rate of ts 2d, cit" CE thos te Tt is only necessary to point here' {to the additional hindrance such a egy las Fess fcurreney must be to trade, as it is not accepted in large parts of the one fra a Interior, varies at different places, and Is "not freely convertible into foreign exchange, Pars a A Further dangers are believed to be! threatening the foreign trade Tientsin, at diny rate the import trade.
opus tara f the export tae In order to obtain the foreign our rency which they want so badly the SPR Seta ete Japanese authorities are said to be bck ey Hak Sontemplating introducing "complete trade and exchange control in North China, here was an adverse balance of trade for Tientsin of 19% million dollars in the first seven months of 1018, as compared with a favourable balance of 28 million in the same period of 1937, "AS against his, there was an cess of Japanese imports over exports fof 7 million dollars in 1938, as against million in 1937, And finally the following total comparative figures give a. sigifeant picture of what is taking place in the trade of Tientstn:
Total trade ther Countries Japan Jan duly 1998 209% 209 si2z.c1a.0%0 JancJuly lost Siatmw so $40 3urSat The parlous state of foreign trade in North China, as revealed by these Customs figures is ascribed to three main causes, Firstly, the war conditions still reigning in a large part Sun Fo Head of Soviet Chinese Association
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.