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->GENERAL KEVlFAY OF THE YEAttGabelle, under the able supervision of Sir Kicliard Dune,rose during 11)15 to about $KO,000.000, exceeding theMaritime Customs revenues and coming next in order ofamount after the revenues accruing from the Land Tax,which net about $100,000,000. During 1015 it paid over tothe Central Government a surplus of $37,000,000 over andabove its obligations to the Quintuple Loan Group.It is estimated that China s obligations abroad net Tls.1,000,000,000. During she met her foreign obligations]!>15fully and promptly.ofDevelopment ofAgriculture and Commerce..Native Industries did Jiiuch during the year to encourage thedevelopment of native industry. Investigations were conducted looking forward to improvements inlea and sugar industries. An Experimental Station for teacultivation has been established by the Ministry in Anhwei.Efforts will be made to improve the quality of China s ten.A native Tea Association Ins been organized to inauguratea work designed to assist in the restoration of the prominentposition once occupied by China tea in the markets of theworld. The abolition of the use of alcoholic beverages in.Russia increased the demands for China tea (hiring 1915 sothai Hankow especially witnessed great activity in tea shipments ai advanced prices. The temperance agitation mother parts of the world will tend to increase the demandfor tea and will offer to China tea opportunities for enlargedmarkets abroad.-In the cotton industry, the Ministry hasretained an American cotton-growing expertto assist in teaching Chinese farmers improved methods ofplanting, growing and ginning cotton. China importsannually Tls. 70,000,000 of cut ton yarn, mostly from Indiaand Japan. H is the object of the Ministry of Agricultureand Commerce to encourage the growth and manufacture ofcotton in China so that China may some day supply the rawcotton and manufacture the cotton yarn necessary to herown wants. Already China has one million spindlesengaged in the production of cotton yarn, but thirty or fortytimes this number will be required. Considerable nativecapital has been embarked in the cotton spinning industry in