The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-24
OF CHINA
THE EMPIRE DOES AN ENORMOUS BUSINESS.
Queer Customs Followed by the Chinese When They Start Out to
 Pray for Rain.
BY EDwARD YOUNG

Shanghai, Jan 23.--The Maritime Customs revenue of China for 1908 Is officially estimates at 32,500,000 taels, which Is equivalent to s21,666,665, the average sterling value of the tael being .lixty-four cents. The. revenue com collection and It's gold equivalent with the revenue of 1901. which amounted to 33, S61, ,346 taels. equivalent to $27,5I2- $40, the tael then being worth seventy eight cents. In silver last years col- lection was worse than any year since 1904, and in the gold equivalent was worse than any year since 1903. The Customs revenue whether stated in silver or gold shows a steady decline in the past three years. It is small wonder that China desires the con- sent of He Powers to an Increase in the Customs duties. While the Wal wu-pu, or Foreign Board Is proposing to the Powers a discussion as to the abolition of llkin in return for an in- crease in Maritime Customs duties. Chang -chih -tung Is endeavoring to ob- tain s15.00o,000 from foreign financiers for the construction of the Han-kau- Canton railway. and Is offering as secp- rity the likin revenues of the provinces traversed by their railway. Manchuria also wants foreign loan. and offers as security the revenues of Manchurla consisting mainly of likin. It Is usu- ally stipulated in the event of tariff revision abolishing likin that loans secured upon likin shall be secured upon the increased Customs revenue consequent upon such revision. Na-ices in the papers state that the Regent Is directing his attention to the reform of the present obsolete financial methods in China.
 
 interesting case of prophet justified In 1889 a medical officer in the Japan ese Government gave out that he had come to the conclusion that the peo- pie of Java though their average du- ration of life is shorter than that of the Dutch would multiply faster than the people of Holland. He laid 1t down that the population of Java doubled in thirty-hve years while In Holland 1t takes seventy years to double the population. He forecasted that the population of Java which stood at fourteen millions in 1865, would exceed 'twenty-eight millions In 1900. The actual counting shows hin to be surprisingly in the right. On December 31, 1900, the census returns showed the population to be 2S,3s6,I2I. During the twenty years since 1880 the population of the island had increased 45.s per cent Facts having proved the theory, the population of Java in 1885 withstand at about ffty-cix millions. Java is hardly one-third larger than Ireland, and the pressure of popula- ton Is so great so to cause anxiety.
 British and Japanese.
 According to the president of the Misshin Steamship Company, who re- gently returned to Tokio from Shan hal trade rivalry between British and Japanese. merchants in the Yangtse valley is very keen. In an interview with a representative of a Japanese journal Mir. Ishiwata said that the British had secured all the best sites for settlements along the shores of the great river and that they followed a policy of rigorous exclusion so far as vessels flying any foreign flag were Although the Nippon Yu- sen Kaisha had acquired by purchase the ships of British firm, and the wareh houses used by that firm not only were the ships thenceforth excluded from British wharves, but even the warehouses became practically unus- able This conservative attitude, he added, was maintained In nearly all respects. Speaking of the Pecently-pro- jscted amalgamation of shipping inte- rests In the Yangse, Mir. Ishiwata ex- pressed the opinion that it might yet be brought about, as the various com panies were becoming more and more sensible of the disadvantages of com petition. The tonnage of ships engag- ed in the Tangtse carrying trade ag- gregates 90,O00 and Japanese vessels stand for s0,0O0. The fact Is. says the