DECENNIAL REPORT, 1912-21

    1.Trade and ShippingThe figures for the decade 191221 do not,  happily, bear out the predictions of previous Decennial Reports regarding a general decline in value and revenue for the trade of Lappa. Notwithstanding the complete disappearance after 1915 from Customs tables, under the agreements of 1908, 1911, and 1913, of opiumwhich up to 1912 had provided a round 50 per cent. of the revenue of Lappa_ the close of the 10 years now under review finds the revenue not very far short of the mark formerly reached with its help, while the whole value of the trade is unmistakably in the ascendant without it. The following diagram will not be out of place as showing from this new viewpoint (that is, with all opium excluded) the course of both values and revenue of Lappa from its opening in 1887. The rise and fall in both tables will be of interest as registering, from the beginning of Customs’ cognizance, the fair weather and adversity that this district, in common with the rest of China, has experienced: the China-Japan War of 1894 and the coming of the plague; the Boxer year; the Revolution; and the late years of suspense and shipping shortage due to the War in Europe. This last abrupt fall in our figures from 191415 onwards synchronises with the stagnation in imports (which in Lappa represents two-thirds of the revenue) throughout China. Coincident again, however, with the general recovery due to the return of peace and security, our figures rise at the end of 1921 to the fine total of a trade value of 30 1/2 millions and a revenue of Hk.Tls.322,00--famine surtax excluded, --being the highest yet recorded for Lappa Customs. Besides the disappearance of opium from our returns, considerable changes have taken place in many of the principal articles of both import and export of Lappa since the first Decennial Report (1881-1891). Import of both cotton and woolen piece goods have declined to well-nigh disappearing point. Plain white shirtings, that were once imported to the extent of 160,000 pieces in a year, T-cloths, cambrics, lawns, and muslins turkey  reds, and cotton flannels all sink to negligible quantities Japanese cotton cloth, in the beginning of the decade imported to the figure of nearly 90,000 yards, in the later years disappears entirely. In woolens, too; of cashmeres and merinos which in 1912 came here to the quantity of 48,000 yards the same may at the end of the  decade be said. Turning to the figures of cotton yarn, however, a reason for this becomes clear. In the last few years Kwangtung has become a place of fuller home production of textiles; some hundreds of weaving factories have been set up in the delta, to the increasing loss of the foreign piece goods trade. Cotton yarn was always largely imported at Lappa, an average of from 30,000to 40,000 piculs yearly being looked for. In the last two years this has advanced to the unprecedented quantities of 77,00 piculs for 1920 and 186,000 piculs for 1921. An increase to a value of 12 millions in a year for an article which elsewhere, as at Canton, has shown comparative decrease only, needs more explanation; and it must be confessed that the market is in no way situted at Lappa or Macao. All this large quantity of yarn (that is to say, 60,000 piculs of Indian, 114,000 piculs of Japanese, and 12,000 piculs of bleached and mercerised in 1921) goes still to the Chanchuen and Fatshan districts near Canton. The reason for its being shipped from Hongkong to Macao by steamer and there transferred to the native tows that go by Shekki to the Fatshan neighbourhood is that the tariff of the Lappa Customshanded down from the early days of the Hoppo or Superintendent Customs at Cantonallows of import into the province by this route at about one-third the payment of duty on yarn steamer-borne direct to these Canton districts. It is likely that the approaching introduction of a full 5 per cent. ad valorem tariff for China will be made an opportunity to revise this cause of great leakage of revenue to the country, and such a revision will no doubt make great changes in future value and revenue figures at Lappa.

Lappa is no more than a toll-gate for merchandise passing to and from the province; little has either its origin or destination in this immediate neighbourhood. In the absence of both buyer and seller, therefore, remarks on the trade must be largely based on surmise. The following articles, however, attract special attention. A considerable increase towards the end of the decade in iron bar and plate cuttings with stone and cement, which quadrupled in quantity, shows increased building activity. This is true of every town of consequence in the delta, and in many the last 10 years has seen the erection of large departmental stores and other buildings of foreign type. Building stone has gone up immensely. The picturesque Nine Islands off the Heungshan coast have been invader by the stone-cutter, and thousands of tons of cut granite go thence each month to all parts. There is a great wealth of this stone lying easily accessible on the islands off the West Coast notably in the huge granite boulders of Shito Bay, St. John's Island ,which deserve the employment of modern stone-cutting plant. Rice and paddy are articles the increased import of which, pointing to poor crops in the district, cannot be regarded as a sign of prosperity. In 1916 1 1/2 million piculs were required dropping to 600,000 in 1920a year of good harvest. Bran, which is imported for pigs' food, may be placed in the same category. This in the same year was taken to the extent of 225,000piculs, the average year being a third of that quantity. Japanese matches are interesting as having risen from 100,000 to 300,000 gross--a paradoxical effect of the anti-Japanese boycott. For, not daring to import them openly by steamer to Hainan and Luichow, they were passed in great quantity along the coast by junk to the districts around Hoihow instead, and thus all parties are satisfied. With the end of the boycott they have fallen again considerably, Kerosene oil dropped during the War years to a fourth of the average import, but is rising again at the coast by junk to the districts around Hoihow instead, and thus all parties are satisfied. With the end of the boycott they have fallen again considerably Kerosene oil dropped during the War years to a fourth of the average import, but is rising again at he close of the decade to near 1 1/2 to 2 million gallons annually, It seems, however, that districts once supplied by us with American oil are now obtaining Sumatra oil direct by junk from Singapore. Refined sugar shows a very large increase of late years. In exports there is little of special interest to note. Lime-stone from Shiuhing ()for the green Island Cement company increased from a few thousand to 476,000 piculs in 1921.

The Lappa Commissioner has under his control the two main stations of Malowchow()and Tsinshan (). Of these the former is the barrier for the West Coast junk trade, not alone with Macao but also with Hongkong; while the latter controls the approach by the Taichung Creek ()from Macao to the West River and the Canton delta.(For the system of taxation in force see the first Decennial Report on Lappa, 1888-91) The sub-stations Kwanchiap ()and Kuttai()on the north and east have, with the abandonment of the legal opium traffic, ceased to function. On Lappa Island also Hotien(), Anhang (), and Wantsai() have been regarded for some four years as closed, and the frontier is no longer seriously patrolled by our preventive officers. The number and tonnage of junks employed in the carriage of merchandise past these stations during the decade are, together with the value (opium excluded )of the cargo carried, shown below:

While the trend of these figures at to number and tonnage is unmistakably downwards during the greater part of the decade, the value of the cargo for which it is responsible point to plenty of vitality being still left in native shipping. Neither the opening of Kongmoon to trade or the direct steamer traffic between Hongkong and Kwangchowwan and Macao and Kwangchowwan (both of which are outside of Customs cognizance),or, again, that between Hongkong and the West River ports, have had the crushing effect on the native junk traffic confidently foretold the cheapness of both freight and Native Customs charges still support the latter. In these waters there is much trade, too, that steam communication can never displace. Thus there is no communication possible between the West River and the West Coast except by native craft. Backed by wild and rugged country that allows of no convenient intercourse overland, the coast between Macao and the Luichow peninsula consists of many miles of shallow seaboard that is unapproachable save by sea-going native craft. Yet this coast includes many populous towns and productive districts; Shuitung () Tinpak (),the salt-producing centre; Yeungkong()which buys much kerosene oil, groundnuts, and sugar and sends in return leather, woodware, etc.; Kwonghoi ()and Sunning ()districts, with their growing and a waking populations. In the narrow shallow waterway, the northern boundary of Heungshan (), known in British Admiralty charts as Nemesis Creek, again, the thriving little town of Shekki, the Heungshan district city, takes great quantities of cotton yarn and general imports for the supply of a growing manufacturing district, and exports as much paper, samshum cassia-leaf oil, wood and bambooware, fresh vegetables, and eggs as native tonnage will accommodate. From Kongmoon comes timber, fans, bamboo hats (for reshipment to Annam and Singapore),straw mats and leaf tobacco; while coal, bran, rice, and a hundred articles of import, despite steamer facilities, go up in return, as of old, by native craft. The employment of the steam-launch is availed of to a greater extent every, year, but it is chiefly to tow passenger and cargo junks, thus securing greater regularity in running and some security against piratical attack. Not only on the inland waters but far down the coast, and, by reason of the shallowness, no small distance out to sea, may be seen the smoke of small (and dirty )launches which strain at great gaudily painted three-storied passenger-barges. Some of these are regular lines trading from Canton direct to these places and thus taking away trade that fo5rmerly passed through Lappa stations.

Steam -- launches plying from Lappa under Inland Waters Navigation Rules make the following towing charges, coal included:Macao to Sunchong, on the Sunui River: general cargo, the round trip, $250 to $300; timber, $150 to $200. Kongmoon to Macao: firewood, one way, $60; coal per ton $0.50(the average coal junk carries 150tons);general cargo, the round trip, $105. Macao to Shekki, One way, $75. The cost of chartering a regular towing launch ranges from $650 to $900 per month, without coal, which must be supplied by the junks towed. As has been said above, launches are employed quite as much for security against attack as for their speed, and here we come to the real drag on the trade in these waters, Piracy is to-day no whit less rife than 30 years ago when the Customs first functioned at Lappa, Where in other parts of China it is a possible risk to be faced, in the mouth of the West River and among the apparently deserted islands that fringe the West Coast it may be said that a cargo or passenger junk cannot safely sail alone, and even the fishing junk must go fitted out like some carvel of the sixteenth century, In all vessels arms must be carried. In some vessels professional gunners are carried to work the old brass and iron muzzle-loading cannon that are fitted with enormous white painted tompions to make them look of imposing calibre. More generally the guard-boat or convoy system is adopted, the guard-boats being comparatively fast-sailing craft with crews of from 10 to 25 men and carrying in some cases as many as 16 cannon, Some insight is given into the reality of the menace by the following particulars of what junk owners are willing to pay fur this system of insurance. The regular Tohuk()junksand Tohuk is little further from Macao than is Hongkiongemploy a regular guard-boat at a cost of $240 a month. Such a junk can look to make an average total in freight of $900 per month. and of passenger fares another $400a total of $1,300 per month. The regular Sunning fleet trading between Hongkong and the Sunning coast (Kwonghoi) pay $40 for each junk convoyed thence from Malowchow and the returna journey of no more than 112 miles. Junks sailing to Yeungkong doi not employ the regular guard-boat, but charter one as required at a cost of $120to $160 the round trip.

Other "outside" guard-doat charges are: Macao to Kongmoon and return, $200; Macao to Sunning and return, $160; Macao to Shekki and return, $140. This covers any number of junks escorted, but means none the less great loss in time wasted and markets missed in waiting for convoys, Turning again to steam regular towed passenger-boats, in addition to the extra security gained from speed, still require from 10to 16 soldiers at a cost of as much as $180 a month, besides a heavy charge towards feeding them.

The number and tonnage of junks between Hongkong and Macao, with the value of the cargo carried during the decade, while not properly within Lappa statistics ( since no duty is charged thereon ) will be of interest.

These cargoes consist very largely of coal, bran, timber, and bulk articles but the value column has been occasionally swelled by the inclusion of seaplanes and other articles of high value not strictly for commercial purposes. The total number of all junks trading at the foreign port of Macao for 1921,giving tonnage in piculs, is stated by the Portuguese Harbour Office to be:

  The average freights charged by junks in the district are given below:            

    A survey of the shipping at Lappa and Macao would be incomplete that made no mention of the great fishing industry of this district. In this some 1,800 Macao junks are engaged and, including the crews and those occupied in the various branches of the trade on shore, some 40,000 men and women employed. The average annual export from Macao during the decade was over 3 million dollars. The fish go chiefly to Kongmoon, Tanshuihow (), Kungyifow (), Chikhom ((), and Shekki. About $400,000 value goes by steamer annually to Canton and Hongkong. Fish for the native market is practically all salted immediately it is caught, and the position of Macao as the second fish-producing port in China is largely due to the cheapness of the foreign-imported salt obtainable there -i.e.$1 per picul, as against $3.50 for Chinese government-taxed salt. Further particulars on this subject are given under section 9. The fishing monopoly at Macao is let to an association of fish traders for $36,000 a year. This syndicate levies a fee of 1 1/2 cents on each dollar value of all fish landed or sold in the Colony. An average catch for a Macao junk is about 120 piculs, Or $2,000 value. There are two fishing seasons _from September to January and from after China New Year holidays to April. From May to August are considered bad months. Of interest also as another source of wealth to the district are the oyster fisheries, though this trade does not to any great extent pass through the Lappa Customs, the oysters being for the most part shipped direct from the place of production to Canton and Hongkong. The oysters of the estuary of the Canton and West Rivers are highly valued. Being produced in brackish water they are more easily dried than the sea-water oyster. Nearly every bay and hamlet has its beds, from the Sunon district --where the important Shatsing () beds are situated _to Sunning. At the village of Tongka ()in Heungshan_ the family home of the statesman T'ang Shao-i,_ no less than $50,000 iscleared in a good season from the bed which is there the property of the local municipality. The oysters are cultivated and require attention just as field crops do, and a large and hard-working class is employed in the trade. They are grown from the spat on beds of stones weighing about 3 pounds each, which are put there for the purpose. In about five months the young oysters appear and are fit for use in from three to three and a half years, From time to time the stones require lifting. In times of freshets from the rivers whole beds are taken up and carried by hand many li out to sea in order to preserve them from too great a share of fresh water, which kills the fish. To remove the oysters the stones have to be again taken up. The oysters are cooked at once, being put into large pans containing 3 to 4 piculs of water (which subsequently becomes the basis of an evil-smelling oyster sauce )and boiled for an hour, After this they are partially dried in the sun for one day, or two if intended for export abroad, The cost of good dried oysters is $95 per picul.

  2. REVENUE--The total collection for the 10years 1921_21 amounted to Hk. Tls.1,886,596. It shows a decrease on the 1892-1901 decade of under Hk.Tls.100,000 and of Hk.Tls.192,894 on the last decade. This, considering the leanness of the years of War (1914-18)everywhere, may be said to be insignificant. The lowest point ever reached in our trade was the Hk.Tls.126,881 of 1916, the smallest month of which year showed only Hk.Tls.5,238. But the period also contains the highest revenue yet reached, with the Hk.Tls.322,168 (surtax excluded) of 1921. All the above figures exclude opium, which until 1915 was still being imported to some extent. The trade of Lappa for the decade 1912-21, if estimated  on a basis of value, shows the following proportions between China-Macao and China-Hongkong in both imports and exports: import (120 millions) is 72 per cent. of which 55 per cent. (66 millions) is Macao- China and 45 per cent. (54 millions )is Hongkong-China; export (48 millions) is 28 per cent. of which 87 per cent. (42millions) is China-Macao and1per cent (6millions) is China-Hongkong. Or looking at it from another standpoint: Macao-china is 64 per cent, of the whole trade of Lappoa, of which 61 per cent. ( 66millipons )is import trade of Lappa, of which 90 per cent. (54millions) is import and 10per cent. (6millions) is export. If looked at from the point of view of revenue, however,  quite different results will appear. A large portion of the export cargo shown in our tables pays no duty at Lappa; it comes under duty-paid documents from up-country Native Customs or _ as is the case with cargo from West Coast for Canton _ pays duty at destination. Again, our import values for returns purposes are based on those prevailing at Canton during the year; while duties collected at Lappa are on values fixed locally many years ago and now far below actual market cent. on the value of the trade. It is, therefore, not surprising that many articles prefer this way to and from the province.

  3.  Opium--In accordance with the Anglo-Chinese Agreement of May 1911, Whereby the legitimate foreign opium trade in China was to cease on 31st December 1917 together with the legitimate cultivation of opium in China, this trade, which at one time constituted the main source of revenue to the Lappa Customs, Customs, same to an end. In 1912 the import dwindled to less than half, which was again halved in 1913,by which time, however, the value of the drug had doubled. In 1914 only 51chests were imported and in 1915 only 10 piculs. Since that year on opium of any kind has passed through the Lappa Customs. Meantime in 1913 an agreement was come to between Portugal and Great Britain regulating the opium monopolies in the colonies of Macao and Hongkong. As regards the former the opium monopoly was allowed to import yearly 500 chests of raw Indian opium of which 260 chests was to be boiled down for "local consumption" and 240 for exportation "abroad" to places where the importation of opium is not prohibited. The opium work now carried on at this office is limited to recording in a and exportabroad.According to the particulars afforded us, the amounts places of export reported are only Mexico and Chile.

The figures published by the Macao Government of the value of the import and export of opium for 1921 are as follows:_

  The amount said to be sold by the farmer for local consumption is stated by the Government as over 3 million dollars. In this connexion some particulars of the opium monopoly, the main, if now a falling, source of income to the Macao Government, may be of interest. In 1913 this monopoly was sold for a term of five years for $1,056,666 yearly. In 1918 the price for a further period of five years advanced to $6,676,000 yearly, bid by Tai Seng (). This was reduced, however, at the end of 1919 to $5,841,500 and on 31st March 1920 cancelled and, the farmer being unable to pay the sum, the Government confiscated the guarantee deposit of $2,225,000. The monopoly was now granted for the period 1st April to 31st July 1920 for $874,000 and for a term of three years from 1st August for the sum of $3,950,000. On the 7th November 1921 this was reduced to $3,002,000 per annum, at which price it now stands.

The price of opium at the end of 1921 is stated to be $10 to $12 per tael (or one-twelfth of a pound)

4.CURRENCY AND FINANCE.--The decade experienced great fluctuations in 20-cent coins, the over and debased issue of which claims our principal attention in currency in these parts. In 1914 these ruled as low as $124.10 to Hongkong $100 (bank-notes); in 1919 as high as $90.40, this rise being due partly to the high price of silver and partly to large remittances up country to purchase silver and rice. The country prefer to deal in Hongkong currency, but the silver dollar is nowadays never seen. Curiously, the gold dollar is frequently to be found among the villages of Heungshan and Sunning districts, Where returned merchants and labourers from America are settled.

Three exchange banks failed through over-speculation during the sensational fluctuations of 1919-21. During this period gold, being cheap, was largely purchased in leaf for jewellery.

The following table shows the fluctuations in silver coins from 1912 to 1921, per 100 Hongkong dollars (bank-notes):--

   5.POPULATION.—No census figures are available for the Lappa district. Tsinshan contains about 8,000 inhabitants, and Wantsai and Anhang, the villages on the Lappaside of the harbour, about 2,000. The whole Heungshan district coming under the Magistrate at Shekki is said to consist of over 800 villages an to comprise a population of about a million and a quarter, Shekki itself, with the district city of Heungshan, containing about 200,000. The population of Macao, including Taipaand Colowan, is, according to the census in 1920, made up of 3,816 Portuguese 361 foreigners, and 79,807 Chinese. There are also 145 British Indian police. Of the Portuguese, 1,137 are military, 832 Government officials, 18 lawyers, and nine merchants and agents; the remainder ,women and children.

      6. WATERWAYS; HARBOURS; WATER APPROACHES.-- In January 1920 the first steps in Admiral Lacerda’s plan for an artificial outer harbour were taken under his personal direction. This ambitious work is, when completed, to cost some $2,000,000, which sum, it is said, has already been guaranteed by the Lisbon Government. It embraces a south breakwater some 3,600 yards long with three openings and an east breakwater 1,400 yards long these two arms to accommodate vessels drawing up to 22 feet. A "canal of accessto approach this basin from the south-east will be kept dredged 100 yards wide to a depth of 7 1/2 metres _ out to deep water. But the scheme is based on the theory that the ebb and flood tides flowing between the inner harbour or Tsinshan River mouth and the sea to the eastward of Macao will, guided by this breakwater, form a scour that will in itself serve largely to keep this channel deep. An inner harbour on that will in itself serve largely to keep this channel deep. An inner harbour on the west and another basin on the east of the peninsula, for shelter for native craft and for shipbuilding slips, and having spacious wharves, piers, and go down accommodation, are also provided for. The whole scheme, the plan of which I am permitted to include with this report, is expected to be completed in eight years. At date of writing considerable progress has been made already in the construction of the shelter harbours for native shipping near to Green Island and on the eastern point of the Macao peninsula, It is hoped by the Portuguese that these new facilities to native craft will induce the shipbuilding and repairing yards, that have to some extent deserted Macao for the Wantsai side owing to the silting in of the Inner Harbour, to return to the Colony.

 It is, perhaps, presumption for the lay mind to offer criticism on a scheme so long under the consideration of those trained to the subject. Admiral Lacerda's successful services in a similar problem at Delagoa Bay and his whole-hearted devotion to his present task are well known. But the expenditure of large sums on schemes for a river-mouth port, while not taking into consideration the conservancy of the river mouth itself, will seem to the uninstructed a weak point in the project, The currents of the West River-on the direction and force of which the scheme is to a great extent based _have shown more than once in the past 30 years their subjection to influences beyond the calculations of Macao. Not alone, Moreover, is it a question of a road stead silting in. The whole bed of the district for many miles in every direction if steadily rising at the rate, in places, of some inches a year. Even the blue-water harbour of Hongkong is to receive attention for the same reason. The pear-shaped canton of Heungshan forms a salient angle between two river-discharge systems which vie with each other in aiding the unceasing seaward march of her fields and plantations. Here the flow of the river water both from the east and the west, its work accomplished, slackens on reaching the sea and the silt falls, Groups of islands, log lines of fishing-stakes, artificial oyster beds, and other obstructions take up the task, till shoal becomes bank and bank is reclaimed to paddy field in the span of a single lifetime. It is to be feared that Macao like many another forgotten seaport of China, is doomed to become very shortly an inland place. Assuredly, failure to bring to completion the work once begun can but seal her fate. It is, perhaps, a matter for regret that the cooperation of China or of the local territorial authorities in the undertaking has not been sought.

The commercial free port of Heungchow (),founded at Shatanwan() by the gentry and merchants of Heungshan with the approval of the Government in 1909, failed long since to justify the great future promised for it. It lies deserted except for a few fishermen; the wharves and piers decayed, the public buildings and shops in ruins or incompleted. There is barely water for the smallest launch at the best of times, and it is difficult to understand how such high hopes could ever have been entertained for its success.

7.LIGHTS AND AIDS TO NAVIGATION.-- NO remarks

8. POST OFFLCE AND TELEGRAPHS--Besides the one Chinese post office which was opened at Tsinshan in August 1009, there are 14 rural agencies and six street post-boxes in the district. There is little change in the amount of business transacted. The average number of articles inwards yearly is 425,800 and outwards 174,300, PLus 256,000 articles in exchange mail bags.

There is a wireless wireless station at Tsinshan. It under the control of the military, and no messages are taken from the public. The  land telegraph administration throughout the district is inefficient in the extreme and constantly breaking down. With the on foot to connect up all the main villages of Heungshan by the telephone system. At the time of writing even the main district city of Shekki does not possess a telephone except for military and police pirposes.

9. ADMINISTRATION--The previous Decennial report stated under the above heading that on the 7th November 1911 the revolutionary flag was hoisted in the district and at the same time the new "Military Governmentwas established at Canton. The ensuing 10 years were to see many changes in the styles of government at Canton, but it may be doubted if the alternations of party at the capital have much affected the life of this countryside. The district is administered by a Magistrate, hitherto appointed by the Governor at Canton, but now elected by popular vote. He is resident at the district city of Heungshan or Shekki and is responsible for the collection of taxes, acts as chief police officer, and deals with all educational and industrial affairs. The Kung Ch(),a committee of justices of the peace elected by vote and having a chairman chosen by the magistrate, deals in the first instance with all cases brought for decision by the people of the city. As regards country districts, suits normally come by the way of the Hsiang Chian(), or village elders, and T'uan-pao Ch()to the Magistracy.

The principal taxes from which revenue is derived are the land and house taxes-collected by Weiyaof the magistracy _and the tobacco and wine taxes which are farmed out for a term of one year each. Tobacco is taxed 20per cent. ad valorem; depending on the quality. Liquor, moreover, may not be sold without a licence, on which another fee is levied. Butchers are taxed 46 cents per head on pigs under 60 catties and 69 cents for those above that weight. For slaughter of bullocks $2 a head is charged. Salt is dealt in by only three shops, which are licensed by the Canton Salt Bureau. An important feature of the local administration is the Hu-sha Ch(), which is responsible for the protection -- and taxation -- of those rice fields on sandy soils and those plantations near the coast and exposed to the attacks of pirates. Each mou of such land pays $0.60 a year to this Chu. What municipal administration there is, is very local and by wards. The district city boasts waterworks and electric lighting. Both are very inferior. For the latter, instead of the use of meters a fixed rate is charged of $ 1.25 per lamp of 16 candle-power which may be used from 6 P. M. to 6 A. M. The native Customs at Shekki levy dues on all goods from foreign ports (unless under the paid certificates of Kowloon or Lappa)and to foreign ports. No duty of likin is charged on goods to or from native places.

The military establishment of Heungshan is one ying () of 504 infantry and one lien () of 126 artillery. Troops are stationed only at Shekki (168), Tsinshan (126), Wantsai(84), Anhang(42), and Kwanchiap(84). The police are under the control of the District Magistrate. A  Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Macao, established under authority from Lisbon, opened on the 1st December 1914.

The chief revenues of the Portuguese Colony of Macao are founded on the system of the farming out of monopolies. Of these the three principal are the opium monopoly (see section 3), the fantan or gambling monopoly, and the lottery monopoly. The first gambling monopoly extended from July 1912 to 1916 for an annual payment of $603,000. The next purchaser bid $1,286,660 per month; but this sum was reduced to $50,500 per month and then to $25,100 per month. On the 1st February 1918 the monopoly was purchased for a period of five years to end January 1923 for an annual payment of $520,000. The lottery monopolies are three: Pa-ca-pio()drawn no less than three times a day, the tickets costing from 5 to 60 cents; the San-pio (), drawings once weekly; The Pu-pio(), drawings thrice monthly.

                     MONOPOLY OF SAN-PIO AND PA-CA-PIO

                            Monopoly of Pu-pio

  Lesser monopolies are the fish, the salt, and the tobacco monopolies.

The fish monopoly for which $36,000 a year is at present paid, has already been referred to in section 1.

The salt monopoly stands, since May 1921,at an annual payment of $70,666. The importation of salt to Macao is said to be about 60,000 piculs a year; but this is probably a modest estimate, for the fishing trade alone would account for well-nigh that amount. The salt is imported chiefly from Southern Annam and is sold at from $1 to $1.30 per picul in Macao. Junks are able, under a system of piao, or permits from the Chinese Salt Bureau, to carry this salt to sea without interference. Piao valid for one year: for 30 piculs of salt, $20; 4 piculs, $30; 60 piculs $40. 30 catties of salt are required to every picul of fish.

A tobacco monopoly was introduced in February 1921 and purchased by a syndicate for $90,010 per annum for two years. So great was its unpopularity, however, and the difficulties put in its way, that in June the contract was surrendered, the guarantee of $30,000 being forfeited to the Government. This tax on tobacco was finally abolished.

1 per cent. of the price paid for all monopolies goes to municipal government.

10. JUSTICE AND POLICE; GAOLS; 11. AGRICULTURE; and 12. MINES AND MINERALS. --No remarks.

13.MANUFACTURES -- Manufactures of importance in this distract are few. In Tsinshan a weaving company makes a fair quality of native cloth, all of which is sold locally. At Shekki there is a cotton-weaving factory of 30 machines driven by steam, which turns out 300 to 400 dozen socks daily, employing 200 hands, Shanghai cotton yarn is used In the same town there are six or seven sugar mills, manufacturing sugar from locally grown cane. A prosperous brick and tile company with a capital of $100,000, makes bricks of good quality at $12 per thousand and fair glazed tiles.

Following is a list of weaving establishments in Macao:-- 

  The yarn used by the above factories chiefly Japanese of Shanghai grey and dyed. The average price of the cloths is $1 per chang, while that of the towels is from $2.20 to $3.50 per dozen. The scale of pay to female weavers at the native looms is: native cloths, $0.05 to $0.12 per chang (10 Chinese feet ); cotton towels,$0.20 to $0.35 per dozen.

Shipbuilding .--At end of the decade shipbuilding has greatly flourished. At Shekki are several yards where the large teak-wood passenger tows of 150 tons or more are turned out at about $16,000. There are nine ship and boat building yards in Macao and two at Taipa. At Wantsai and Anhang, on the Lappa side, there are 18 large yards and about 20 small ones. Over 50 large junks were built in Lappa during1921.

14.RAILWAYS AND ROADS--The scheme for a railway from Macao to Shekki and thence, via Shiulam (), Shuntak district city, and Fatshan, to Canton, which has been talked of for many years, is no nearer realisation. The proposed motor road between Macao and Shekki, also, goes no further than a few miles beyond the Portuguese barrier , and there lapses back to native country paths. There are no engineering difficulties in the way of either as far as the Heungshan district is concerned, and the construction of some easy communication would be a boon both to the Heungshan people and to the inhabitants of Macao. There is a fair road practicable for jinricshas between Shekki and Tongka, on the east coast of Heungshan; and, could this be made to continue on round the whole of the canton, no small amount of vegetable and fruit produce would find thereby a way to market that is prevented by fear of creek pirates from going by boat. But that a railway would pay seems doubtful. The cost of construction of bridges and embankment across the delta to Canton would be heavy. Southern China may be said not to take naturally to railways. A well-kept road with independent cart and motor communication in its various forms seems far more adapted to the uses of this country and of a people more in need of facilities for short journeys to market towns and the calling places of shipping. While being of service to all alike, such does not call for the heavy initial outlay of a railway track.

The Sunning Railway (), opened in 1912, runs from Kongmoon, via Kungyifow and Sunning, to the small village of Towshan(), near the west Coast, and may there be said to come within the sphere of interest of Lappa Customs. It is doubtful if this railway has anywhere been a success as a freight-carrying line, though passengers appear to make fair use of it _when it is running. During a recent journey along the line from the West Coast the writer was unable to find that freight cars were in any regular use. Towshan at least has proved a complete failure as the seaward end of the line, and it is now proposed to build another line from Sunning south-westward to the top of the Haiyue Inlet. This is a remarkable fiord, narrow but having comparatively deep water, that extends some 20 miles in from the sea through the hills and being free from the silt that comes down river channels, could undoubtedly be made into a useful harbour even for steam vessels of medium draught.

In the Colony of Macao roads have been greatly improved and added to during the decade, Streets have been opened up in the native town and laid to form building lots on the ground newly reclaimed from swamp outside the old walls, In all some 20 miles of road have been constructed, much of which is of excellent cement surface for motor traffic.

  15EDUCATION--Great changes have taken place both in number of schools and character of education on the course of a decade that covers the period since the Revolution. Schools of one kind and another-state, municipal and guild, missionary and private-have sprung up in hundreds. A glance through the primers and other wares of the educational shops in any fair-sized town reveals the gulf across which we look to the days of the time-honoured Chinese classical education. The later years of the period have, however, shown some tendency to restore a larger share of instruction which the four principal are under the direct control of the Board of Education at Canton and local officials. Each of these schools accommodates about 150 pupils, who have ,before admission, to show at least five years of education on elementary Chinese lines. These high schools are endowed by the Sung Yi Chi()a temple institution of considerable wealth and influence subscribed to by the gentry. The school fee is only $6 yearly, with a boarding fee of $6 per month. Tsinshan owns a college (,) and a large school each for boys and girls, besides two poor schools and several private classes. The schools for Chinese attendance in Macao are as follows:___

  16MUNICIPAL AND SANITARY IMPROVEMENTS:HOSPITALS--There are several hospitals at Heungshan, generally supported by benevolent institutions such as the Sung Yi Chi, referred to in section 15. In the immediate neighbourhood are three hospitals for the use of Chinese: the, at Tsinshan, and theat Wantsai. There is an interesting fact connecting these hospitals with the much talked-of "hill waters of Lappa" on which the Colony of Macao is so dependent in  time of scarcity. This stream from the mountains behind Anhang was 50 years ago the subject of along and bitter lawsuit between the members of the Yang() family who own the valley. It was finally settled by the official of that day confiscation it to the use of the hospital at Wantsai and that at Tsinshan. Each of these was to have  half of the proceeds and to pay a certain portion of it to those descendants of the Yang family who were in need. The disposal of the water is farmed out to a monopoly, which now pays $7,200 a year for a term of 15 years ending in 1930 and supplies at a good profit all the large native shipping and much of the town of Macao. The recent production of water in sufficient quantity in the Macao peninsula by artesian wells appears likely to rob the hospital of much of this income and at the same time to abolish the bogey, popular in times of frontier and other disputes, of cutting of the Colony's water supply. The Chinese  hospital at Macao called thewas founded and is supported by the Chinese community, assisted with a small municipal grant. There is also a branch at Wantsai. This institution, which is administered by a committee of three elected by residents, also takes a part in economical and political affairs of the Chinese of Macao.

A leper settlement under the control of the International Mission to Lepers is being formed by the American Baptist Mission on the beautiful island of Daikum(), off the West, 45 miles from Macao. The island has been presented by Mr. Wu T’ing-fang. Buildings to cost $100,000 are being constructed to accommodate 1,500 lepers while undergoing the eythl-este cure. This new discovery, an oil extracted from the chaulmugra berry grown in Assam, is said also to have a marked curative effect on tuberculosis.

  17EMIGRATION AND MIRATION -- No remarks.

  18PRICES:WAGES -- The average increase in wages in the district during the decade is said to be from 15 to 20 per cent. The following table shows the fluctuation in the price of necessaries:--  

      19  FAMINE OR SCARCITY; FLOOD; PLAGUE; CHOLERA; OTHER EPIDEMICS__ Bubonic plague was form 1895 to 1915 endemic in the neighbourhood, but was stamped out by the general use of hydraulic siphons and the extermination of rats and other sanitary measures taken by the Municipality. In 1912 the statistics showed 347 cases. In 1913 35 cases were recorded; in 1914, 22,cases; in 1915,one case only.

Cholera appeared in 1913 to the extent of two cases; in 1915, 1 case only; in 1916, 32 cases ; in 1920, a few cases at the end of September imported from Canton.

An epidemic that should be mentioned is that of cerebro-spinal meningitis, Which broke out in Hongkong in February 1918, being said to have been introduced by Australian troops who passed through the Colony on their way to France. This disease, which made so many victims in Hongkong, found no favourable ground for its development here, and in Macao only three cases were recorded in 1918, and, during the months of March, and April 1920, five cases. In June 1918 Macao was visited by the universal influenza, which has claimed so many victims in Europe. 270 cases, with 120 deaths were reported by the end of the year, the disease dying out again in the spring. A few  cases of smallpox were recorded at the end of 1916 and at the beginning of 1917, the cases having occurred among Chinese who evaded the compulsory vaccination. No other infectious diseases call for special mention. Macao retains the salubrious climate that made her early and for so long a favoured resort of Europeans. China offers no more healthy port or more generally pleasant a climate. In the course of the present decade the paddy fields and vegetable garden swamps of the Mongha district have been pushed back before the advance of filled-in building sites and excellent motor roads, well lighted and planted with well-kept and shady banyans. Mosquitoes are becoming rare, and malaria is practically unknown.

 20MILITARY AND NAVAL CHANGES -- No remarks.

 21. The Native Press.--There are four daily papers published at Heungshan and Shekki, viz.: theand. In Macao there are three vernacular papers:   the "Macao Times"()"Macao Daily Post"(), and the "Ping Far Press" ().

22LOCAL.--It be predicted that the next few years will witness much change in the history both of Lappa and of that interesting survival of old-type European colonies in the East-Macao. A fair appreciation of annual statistics and trade reports goes far to disprove the suggestion that here, as a district, trade is dying. From a Chinese point of view there is much business that asks only ordinary encouragement and protection from violence to provide employment and profit to many hands. Should the harbour works ever reach completion, they will no doubt do much to facilitate shipping. Could piracy in the delta region be put down so that the trade in a small way, the drummer and the pedlar, pioneers of new markets, could be reasonably secure by land or water, so considerable a coast-line and hinterland as those naturally served b this port could not fail to produce a growing commerce. But a factor even more dominant, perhaps, than the increasing shallowness of the harbour or the insecurity of the trade routes is the unstable character of Macao itself. The European community consists almost entirely of Government officials, military, and ecclesiastics. There are but two or three genuine merchants of Portuguese nationality. Of Chinese, too, it can be said that the population is largely of refugee type-the opium-smoker and the fantan and lottery gambler. Each change of government or new crop of rumour brings its quota of "immigrants" whose desire alone is to get away again whence they came. Even as a sanctuary it is said that the place has lost much of its attraction, refugees making their way now to Hongkong and Shanghai instead. The end of all opium traffic, whether legalised or surreptitious, cannot be far off. The feeling grows that gambling should cease to be protected. As to how the loss of these revenues to the Government and attractions to the people will work for the future of Macao it may be for the next decade to bring forth.

I have to acknowledge the help of the members of my staff in the collection of the material used in this report, more especially of Mr. Cheung Yuk-tong, Chief Assistant, A, Mr. H.J. de Garcia, 4th Assistant, A, and Mr, Leung Iu Kwong, 3rd Class Tidewaiter, B.                           

                              F.HAYLEY BELL

                                 Acting Commissions of Customs.

Lappa, 1st December 1921.