It Exports Tin
In Large Quantities, Gutta-Percha Collected In The Interior By The
Aborigines, Coffee, Which Promises To Become An Important Production,
Buffalo Hides, Gum Dammar, And Gharroo.
In 1879 the exports amounted to
81,976 pounds; 81,451 pounds being the value of tin.
Its imports are
little more than half this amount. Rice heads the list with an import
of 18,150 pounds worth, and opium comes next, valued at 14,448 pounds.
The third import in value is oil; the next Chinese tobacco, the next
sugar, the next salt fish, and the next pigs! The Chinese, of course,
consume most of what is imported, being in a majority of five to one,
and here as elsewhere they carry with them their rigid conservatism in
dress, mode of living, food, and amusements, and have a well-organized
and independent system of communication with China. It is the Chinese
merchant, not the British, who benefits by the rapidly augmenting
Chinese population. Thus in the import list the Chinese tobacco, pigs,
lard, onions, beans, vermicelli, salted vegetables, tea, crackers,
joss-sticks, matches, Chinese candles, Chinese clothing, Chinese
umbrellas, and several other small items, are all imported from China.
Having been debited with a debt of 10,000 pounds for war expenses, to
be paid off by installments, the finances were much hampered, and the
execution of road-making and other useful work has been delayed. This
war debt, heavy as it was, was exclusive of 6,000 pounds previously
paid off, and of heavy disbursements made to supply food and forage for
the British soldiers who were quartered in Sungei Ujong for a
considerable time.
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