The Express.
London, England, 1847-10-12 00:00:00

WITH CHINA.

THE SELECT COMMITTEE appointed to take into con-
sideration the present state of our commercial relations
with China, who were empowered to send for persons,
papers, and records, and to whom several petitions praying
for relief were referred, and who were empowered to re
port the minutes of the evidence taken before them to the
House, have considered the mattra to them referred, and
have agreed to the following report :
In reporting on the condition of our commercial relations
with China, your committee regret to state, on undoubted
evidence, that the trade with that country has been for some
time in a very unsatisfactory position, and that the result of
our extended intercourse has by no means realised the just ,
expectations which had been naturally founded on a freer
access to so magnificent a market. Whether we look to the
tables of exports, which mark a declension of exports in
nearly every branch of manufacture, or listen to the state-
ments of experienced merchants and manufacturers, we are
brought to the same conclusion. We tind the exports of cot-
ton manufactures decline between the years 1815-6 from
1,735,1411. to 1,246,5181. in value ; those of woollens, in the
same period, from 539,2231. to 139,668/.. We find thati on a
great proportion of the trade for the sante years, the loss,
taken both ways, i. e., that on the manufactures sent out
and on the tea brought home in payment, may be fairly
stated at from 35 to 40 per cent. ; so great, indeed, that some
manufacturers have abandoned the trade altogether, and
that much of the tea lately sent home has been sent on
Chinese account, the English merchant declining to run the
risk of the venture. We find that the difficulties of the
trade do not arise from any want of demand in China for
articles of British manufacture, or from the increasing com-
petition of other nations. There is no evidence that foreign
competition is to be seriously apprehended in the articles
of general demand. The sole difficulty is in providing a
return.
. . . . . . .

Strapping the question of minor detail., which may fairly
be left out, as not affecting the general results, and setting
aside the junk or native trade, which, though considerable,
does not assist in the general adjustment of foreign accounts,
the trade of China may be thus shortly described. The bulk
of its transactions are with England, British India, and the
United States. . . .

The recognised imports into China, of which we have any
account were, in 1845, as follows
From ell countries 20,390,781 dol.!.

In Eastigi ablim te,073,6i2
In American Alps 2,909,969
18,983,351

Leaving (or all other countries a valise of 1,413,433 dots. only.
To this may be added 23,000,000 dollars, the estimated
value of 38,000 chests of opium, all brought on British or
American account, and from British India, making the
whole imports into China 43,390,784 dollars = at 4s. 4d., to
about 9,401,3361. The export from China, to all countries,
for the same year, was 36,931,000 dollars = 8,001,9261., of
which

For England and British India 28,697,391
For the United States

-- 34,959,093
Thus leaving for the exports to all other countries no more
than 1,972,875 dollars in value. The returns for the year
1846 are not yet completed ; but, as far as they go, they in-
dicate the same result. From England, China buys largely
of manufactured goods. From the United States the same
articles to the extent of 170,0001. From British India opium
and cotton wool to a very large amount.
This import reaching, as will have been seen above, a value
of nearly nine millions and a half, has to be paid for, with
slight exceptions, by tea, silk, and silver, though sugar, and
Chinese grass, as a substitute for hemp, may possibly be
hereafter of some importance.
The payment for opium, from the inordinate desire for it
which prevails, and from the unrecognised nature of the
transaction, which requires a prompt settlement of accounts,
absorbs the silver, to the great inconvenience of the general
traffic of the Chinese} ; and tea and silk must, in fact, pay
the rest. Of these England and the United States are nearly
the sole consumers : and thus it happens, that the advantages
which were so naturally expected from commercial access to
• civilised empire of above three hundred millions of people,
are practically limited by the extent to which these countries
am willing or able to consume these two products of the
soil of China. The balance of trade will no doubt adjust itself
sooner or later, in accordance with the severe lessons of
lose end disappointment which the Let three years have
taught; but unless we can look forward to an increased
consumption of those products in which alone China has the
means of paying, this adjustment can only be made at the
cost of largely diminished exports, and of restricted employ-
ment to every branch of industry connected with them.
The export of Bilk front China is steadily on the increase ;
and as it labours under no heavy taxation on its entrance
either into the United States or Great Britain, and as the
access now opened to the port of Shanghae has brought
us into closer contact with the districts most productive of it,
there is every reason to hope that it will grow with the grow-
ing wealth and luxury of nations, and progressively become
an element of greater importance amongst the means of pay-
ment: This, however, from the nature of the article is a
slow operation, and we must look to tea mainly, and to an
increased consumption of tea, for the means of maintaining,
still more of extending, a profitable trade with those ram
regions. For such an extended consumption, unless we are
content to wait for the slow progress of an increase de-
pendent solely on the increasing numbers of our population,
we can only look to some considerable reduction of the
price ; and for such reduction, now that competition
since the abolition of the monopoly of the East India
Company has had its full effect, and that new sources
of supply have for some time been opened, we can
only. look to a reduction of the duty. On a first cost,
ranging on the qualities in moat general demand, from Bd. to
10d. in theports of China, if any reduction can be effected, it
might be of advantage to the merchant, but would have no
important effect upon the selling prices in England. It is
only through the duty, a duty on the average qualities of'
about 200 per cent., and on the worst qualities, of above 350
per cent, that soy such reduction to the consumer can be
effected as to stimulate consumption in any sensible degree,
and such a reduction thus becomes essential to a healthy and '
an extended trade. That it is also desirable in itself, as pro-
moting the increased consumption of a beverage wholesome
and agreeable every to class of our population, and one
increasingly
which is desired as a substitute for intoxicating
liquors, and that it would be 00 more than is doe to the
Chinese, who tax our products so lightly,f while we button
theirs so heavily, and with each inconvenience to their trade,
your committee conceive to be equally clear. In fact the
sole difficulty exists in the effect which any material reduction
—and none other would be of much value—may be expected
to have upon the resources of the exchequer. The revenue
derived from tea in the last year amounted to 5,110,897 ti
and although this amount of revenue cannot be permanently
relied on, being founded on a consumption which has been
carried to that extent by prices not remunerating to the
important, and which are therefore not likely to be continued,
yet it is no doubt so important an element in the -income of
the country, that under present circumstances it cannpt be
lightly dealt with. Upon this point the house itself only
can determine. At the same time, although your committee
will not pretend to affirm that no lose to the revenue would

to Moo due 1843 hats bop as (Wows :

lbs.
19,224,154
31,348,409
46,726,208