196 TWENTIETH CENTURY IMPRESSIONS OF HONGKONG, SHANGHAI, ETC.
The total import cargo for 1907 amounted to 5,033,000 tons, including that carried in local trade vessels. The exports amounted to 3,254,000 tons. Some 3,396,000 tons also passed through without breaking bulk. The total amount of bunker coal shipped here during the year was 758,497 tons. As to opium, what is supposed to be an accurate record of all opium and products of opium arriving in, and exported from, the Colony is kept, and may be taken as substantially accurate, for the excise work in this particular commodity is done by employes of the opium farmer, who pays a large annual fee to the Government for the monopoly of the trade. To check him, however, the imports and Exports Office keep a record of where each chest of opium in the Colony is stored, and surprise visits are paid to all opium warehouses by the Harbour Master, in his capacity as Superintendent of Imports and Exports, to see that the stock corresponds with the record. The quantity of raw opium of all kinds imported during the year 1907 was 40,842½ chests, as against 47,566½ chests in 1906. The exports were 42,702 chests, against 47,575½ chests in 1906. There are six different kinds of opium dealt with in the Colony, and the above totals are made up as follows : —
Description. Value for Chest Imports. Value. Exports. Value. Malwa Patna Benares Persian Turkish Chinese $ ,000 ,025 1,000
600 700 Chests. ,II9i ,220 ,232 ,217
$
,119.500
,800,500
,232,000
,991,300
,400
,000
Chests,
,700
,404
,621
,846
,700,000
22,964,100
10,621,000
,461,400
,000
74,200
Total
,842}
,180,700
,702
$42,835,700
The reduction is undoubtedly due to the
Anti-Opium Crusade in China. In addition
to this, 8,938 chests of opium of various kinds
passed through the harbour without being
landed.
The products of opium dealt with during the
year amounted to : —
Exports,
Morphia
Opium Skin
Compounds of Opium
lbs.
,469
,958
.454
As to sugar, the figures can claim to be substantially correct for imports, but the exports cannot be so easily determined, for the following reason. All sugar arriving in the Colony has to be covered by a certificate of origin, which is delivered to the Superintendent of Imports and Exports. It sometimes happens that sugar arrives without such a certificate. Certain procedure is adopted in such cases in order to prevent the export of the sugar concerned until the certificate arrives. In the case of exports, only such sugar as is being exported to a port belonging to a signatory of the Brussels Convention is reported, as certificates of origin, issued here, are not required in other ports. The exports of sugar are, therefore, "lumped" with the other items. Imports of sugar during 1907 amounted to 292,527½ tons, a falling off of nearly 200,000 tons as compared with the
previous year.
The only other forms of trade with which we interfere are warlike stores and dangerous goods. The former on arrival are placed under the supervision of the police, and cannot be exported without a special export permit from the Government. The latter are dealt with under somewhat stringent regulations, and there are two dangerous goods anchorages for the accommodation of ships with such goods on board. Petroleum and products of petroleum are stored in various out-of-the-way parts of the Colony, while the Government maintains a magazine, called the Government Gunpowder Depot, in which all explosives have to be stored.
All other kinds of goods imported and exported come and go without let or hindrance. The masters of vessels report on arrival, and before departure, the approximate quantity of cargo carried, and, to a certain extent, its nature. But the returns cannot be regarded as in any way even an approximation of the truth, and the value of the goods I cannot attempt to estimate. The Annual Reports of the Harbour Master give very exhaustive details of the origin and destination of the cargoes, as of the shipping using the port, and many other matters of interest.
The figures collected for 1907 give the following totals : —
- Imports 5,032,689 tons.
- Exports 3,254,308 „
- Transit cargo {i.e., carried on in the same ship) 3,395,888 „
- Bunker coal shipped ... 758,497 „
Passenger Trade. — This is a very large item, and runs into big figures, the totals being: arrivals, 6,057,869 ; departures, 5,299,743. The majority of this traffic, however, is local between places within the Colonial waters. The foreign passenger traffic shows respectable figures, viz., arrivals, 1,395,191, and departures, 1,306,256. To the latter must be added —
Emigration. — Under this heading there were 105,967 Asiatic (principally Chinese) deck passengers sent to various parts of the world during 1907. The majority of these went to the Straits Settlements, where they are employed in mining, on rubber and other plantations, and in various trades. Others went to Canada, the United States, Chile, and the Eastern Archipelago. The thousands of Chinese who went to the Transvaal a few years ago are now returning, gradually, in a state of unusual affluence, after having experienced such treatment in South Africa as to lead them to express great regret at leaving their so-called "slavery" for their native "freedom" {i.e., poverty, bamboo, and tyranny).
THE HARBOUR MASTER.— A biographical sketch of Commander Basil Taylor, R.N., appears under the heading "Executive and Legislative Councils," on the latter of which he has a seat in the absence from the Colony of the Captain Superintendent of Police.
THE HONGKONG AND WHAMPOA DOCK COMPANY, LTD.
The history of the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company, Limited, is one of the most romantic in the industrial annals of the Colony, covering as it does a period of forty-four years, and interwoven as it is with the story of the development and progress of British influence in China. In the days of sailing vessels there were mud docks at Whampoa, in the Canton River, owned by Chinese, but the advent of the Peninsular and Oriental steamers and the fast vessels owned by the great opium houses necessitated a change. Not caring to entrust the docking and repair of their vessels to the Chinese without European supervision, the Peninsular and Oriental Company appointed Mr. John Couper, an Aberdonian of remarkable foresight, to act as their representative in Whampoa and to look after their vessels when in dock. Speedily realising the possibilities of the future, Mr. Couper leased the docks from their Chinese owners, and prospering exceedingly, was enabled to build a new dock, to which he gave his own name. In 1856, however, as one of the results of the trouble arising out of the Arrow affair, the Couper Dock was more or less destroyed by Chinese troops, and the fate of the enterprising Scotchman himself, who was kidnapped by the mob, was never known. When peace was concluded Mr. Couper's son, who was indemnified to the amount of $120,000, took prompt steps to rebuild the dock, and eventually sold it to what has since become the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company.
In the meantime Mr. John Lamont, another Scotchman, had built a dock on the south side of the island, at Aberdeen, and, finding it a success and noting the growing importance of Hongkong as a shipping and commercial centre, he began the construction of the Hope Dock, of much larger dimensions. Mr. Lamont was joined by Mr. David Gillies, but when the Hope Dock was nearing completion the whole of the Aberdeen enterprise was absorbed by the Hongkong and Whampoa Company, Mr. Lamont retiring and Mr. Gillies remaining in the service of the new owners.
The Company was formed in 1863 with a capital of $240,000, the first acquisition being made in that year ; the Lamont and Hope Docks were purchased in 1865 ; and two years later the capital was increased to $750,000. The original founders were Mr. James Whittal, head of the firm of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co. ; Mr. (now Sir) Thomas Sutherland, then local agent of the Peninsular and Oriental Company ; and
