146 COTTON TEXTILES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



Cotton textile imports ofSiam during tbe year 1888 Continued. 



These goods are purchased from commission houses in Singapore, 

 Hong Kong, and Penang. 



They are imported from Singapore, Hong Kong, and Penaug, and are 

 manufactured in Great Britain, Germany, and Switzerland. 

 Three per cent, duty is charged on these goods, 



JACOB T. CHILD, 



Consul- General. 

 UNITED STATES CONSULATE-GENERAL, 



Bangkok, September 8, 1889. 



SPANISH ASIA. 

 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



REPORT BY CONSUL WEBB, OF MANILA. 



As may be supposed, in a country where the climate forbids at all sea- 

 sons of the year the wearing of woolen or other heavy clothing, cotton 

 textiles form an exceedingly important feature of the imports of the Phil- 

 ippine Islands. The millions of natives, the thousands of Chinese, and 

 the majority of the European residents here wear cotton clothing, and, as 

 frequent changes are necessary, the latter, as a rule, consider it expe- 

 dient to have an abundant supply at all times. The majority of the 

 natives and Chinese generally wear nothing but a shirt and pants of 

 the lightest, cheapest cotton goods, usually white, allowing them to 

 become very much soiled before exchanging them for clean ones. But 

 as the material is the cheapest and flimsiest imaginable, it soon wears 

 out and the wearer is therefore continually replenishing his waidrobe, 

 thus assisting materially in sustaining the cotton-goods trade. 



IMPORTS. 



The only place at which reliable statistics concerning importations 

 can be obtained is at the Manila custom-house, but the methods of 

 compiling these statistics in vogue there are so very deliberate that it is 

 exceedingly difficult, not to say impossible, to procure the footings of 

 recent entries. And as the Government report for 1888 has not yet 

 been issued, I am compelled to use the report for 1887 in order to reply 



