184 



The following further information is given in the Report on the 

 Trade of Tainan for 1897 (Foreign Office Annual, 2149, pp. 5-6) :— 



The camphor trade has, so far as concerns foreign merchants in 

 South Formosa, almost entirely stopped, owing, among other causes, to 

 the disturbed state of the country and the difficulty and danger of send- 

 ing money iuto the camphor districts. The roads continued throughout 

 the year to be infested with armed robbers, who, on the approach of the 

 military or police, fled to the hills (where it was, apparently, impossi- 

 ble to pursue them), only to reappear at the first favourable opportunity. 

 Robberies became of such freqnent occurrence that no foreign or native 

 merchant would venture to send money into the interior. The Japanese 

 authorities, on their part, did not see their way to allow the tax to be 

 paid in the treaty port on arrival of the camphor, and business was con- 

 sequently brought to a standstill. 



In the raids and skirmishes, too, which have taken place in the 

 camphor-producing districts, numbers of stills have been destroyed. 

 Their destruction was, perhaps, inevitable, but as they were almost en- 

 tirely erected with money advanced or loaned by foreign merchants in 

 South Formosa, the losres incurred by the latter have been very con- 

 siderable. It is estimated that not one-third of the stills in existencOj 

 two years ago, in which foreigners in South Formosa are interested, are 

 now available for camphor production. 



The hope expressed by Her Majesty's Consul in last year's reports 

 that the camphor trade might revive and assume large proportions, has 

 not been realised ; in fact, far from this being the case, the camphor 

 export business, as far as South Formosa is concerned, has now (April, 

 1898) almost stopped. 



These remarks, of course, apply exclusively to the export of cam- 

 phor by foreign merchants in this district (South Formosa) who have 

 in the past invested considerable sums of money in the business. The 

 production of camphor in the districts of Rinkipo and Shu Shu ^Hunlin 

 and Chip Chip), the principal districts whence the drug came to South 

 Formosa, still, I am informed, continues, though to nothing like the 

 same extent as formerly ; but all the camphor so produced finds its way 

 via the port of Rokko (Lokkang) to Tamsui, whence it is shipped to 

 Hong Kong and Japan. The roads north of Rokko are said to be per- 

 fectly safe, so that dealers can reach the neighbourhood of Chip Chip 

 and buy up any camphor that, under other circumstances, should and 

 would go to the foreign firms in Tainan, with whose money the business 

 was first started. Things may remedy themselves in course of time, 

 but the outlook at present is certainly not very bright. 



