26 COGGIN BROWN : MINES k MINERAL RESOURCES OF YUNNAN. 



No apology is needed for reviewing the trade of a port which 



depends so largely on a mineral industry as 

 Meng-tzu does. Metallic tin from the Ko- 

 Chiu mines has often represented over 90 per cent, of the total 

 value of its annual export trade. The money received by the sale 

 of tin is used to purchase cotton yarn and other foreign imports, 

 and any dislocation of the tin trade, caused by a fall in the price 

 of the metal or other disturbance, is at once reflected in the general 

 trade of the port. Thus the low local price of tin in 1913 resulted 

 for a short time in the total stoppage of trade and the Commis- 

 sioner of Customs reported that the decrease of some £90,000 worth 

 of imported cotton yarn was partly due to this cause. In 1900 the 

 annual export of metallic tin slabs from Meng-tzu totalled 2,899 

 tons, since then it has gone on increasing year by year, with very 

 few fluctuations attaining a total of 9,798 tons in 1912. It has 

 been said that the tin industry is " the staple resource and mainstay 

 of the province" and there is some truth in the statement. 



Other metals exported from Yunnan through Meng-tzu include 

 antimony, both regulus and refined, spelter and manufactured iron 

 in the form of pans, nails, etc. The antimony comes from the 

 prefectures of Kwang-nan and Kai-hua, the former one being on 

 the borders of Kwangsi. Rights were granted to a Chinese concern 

 to mine and smelt the ores in 1909. In 1913, 427 tons were exported 

 and in 1914, 335 tons. 893 tons of spelter were exported in 1913 

 falling to 304 tons in 1914. In 1900 the total weight of native iron 

 manufactures exported was about 20 tons, but since then they 

 have gradually fallen off to insignificant quantities. 



Other important exports from Meng-tzu include tea, hides, 

 Chinese medicines and cunao. The chief imports include cotton 

 yarn both Indian, Japanese and Tongkingese, cotton goods of all 

 kinds, velvets, blankets, Chinaware, clothing and hats, aniline dyes, 

 lamps and lampw 7 are, Japanese matches and kerosene oil, both 

 American and Sumatran. Exports of lesser note include horns, 

 hams, w T hite and yellow beans, china root, native-made namkien 

 cloth, edible fungus, marble, potatoes, native liquor, soy, brown 

 sugar, vermicelli and macaroni and white and yellow wax. It 

 must be noted that the port itself is merely a distributing centre for 

 places far distant and that transit goods often amount to 70 per 

 cent, of the total importations. 



