Recollections of Manilla and the Philippines Part 12

Still, from some cause or other, they do not appear to carry the on trade so successfully as the provincial s.h.i.+powners, most of whom have only one or two small vessels, which they keep constantly running between their native place and Manilla, and whose sole business it is, after despatching either of them, to purchase up from the cultivators of the soil, such small lots of their produce as are cheap at the time, such as sugar, rice, &c., which they are able to do at greatly lower terms, when buying them by little at a time, than it would be possible for the agent of a merchant in Manilla to do, whose operations it would probably be necessary should be conducted upon a more extensive and quicker scale, and whose knowledge of the district and of the vendors could seldom be equal to that of a native Sangley, or Indian born among them.

In consequence of all the produce being originally purchased by small lots at a time, it is of very variable quality; and on a cargo of Muscovado sugar, for instance, being purchased from one of these traders by a foreign merchant of Manilla, for exportation, it is perfectly essential to open the whole of the bags in which it has come up to Manilla from the provinces, and to empty their contents into one great heap, which causes it to get well mingled together, and ensures the requisite regularity of sample, after which it has to be rebagged and s.h.i.+pped off to the foreign vessels that may be waiting to receive it in the bay.

Of course the expense of all this is very considerable, for not only is there all the labour and cost of bags, &c., incurred twice, but there is the freight and insurance by the province vessel, which has brought it up to Manilla, to be added to the natural cost of the sugar at the place of its growth and manufacture.

All these restrictions on trade affect the quant.i.ty of sugar sold by the native planters, and in a very material degree depress the agricultural activity of the people, who suffer from them. But probably there are no greater sufferers from such restrictive regulations than the Government which so ignorantly sustains or has imposed them. So little anxious have they been to encourage the trade, that formerly, at various times, they very nearly all but ruined it, by imposing import duties on all the produce of the provinces that came to Manilla from them, for sale. This, added to the export duties at the time of its s.h.i.+pment to foreign markets, so much increased the cost of those articles in Manilla, that the foreign merchants there, finding they could procure similar merchandise at other places for less money, of course would not buy it; and the native traders, finding their produce unsaleable except at losing prices, could not make any further purchases from the native agriculturists, which caused so much distress in the country, that the provinces got into a high state of disaffection on several occasions, from the same cause; upon seeing which the Government were wise enough to repeal their restrictive laws, and allow the free interchange of commodities between all the provinces of the Philippines.

For instead, as was supposed, of its falling upon the exporting foreign merchants, and on those who bought their cargoes of Manilla produce from them at the port of discharge, the tax fell upon the native agriculturists, inasmuch as they had to reduce the former prices of all their produce which paid the tax, and to equalise them to the rates at which similar merchandise was procurable in other markets, where no tax of the sort existed;--and this, of course, compelled the cultivators of these articles in the Philippines to sell the produce of their farms for less money than they formerly obtained for the same goods. By so doing, it was equivalent to reducing the former wages of their labour, or of the produce of their land--the effects of which were speedily felt and comprehended by them, although some of the officials, who imposed it, might scoff at the causes they a.s.signed, and reiterate their crude and erroneous notions of political economy, to prove that it could not affect them, but must be paid by the great merchants, or by the consumers of their produce in Europe. They quite forgot that these could be supplied with the same things from other places, where they were not subjected to the tax, and of course were procurable cheaper.

Owners of vessels suitable for the coasting trade, who reside in Manilla, have one advantage over the provincial s.h.i.+p-builders; namely, that when the government service gives employment to s.h.i.+pping, they are in a better position for offering for it, than persons at a distance from the capital can be.

The freight of tobacco, for instance, gives a good deal of employment to s.h.i.+ps, and as government rates are in general rather better than any charters obtainable from private merchants, the procuring of a government contract for carrying any of the articles which they monopolize, of which the above-mentioned is one, is an object of some compet.i.tion. These freights are usually settled by tenders, sealed and delivered to an officer appointed to receive them, by the Yntendente, or officer at the head of the Finance Department. I was acquainted with a gentleman, who, having several idle vessels suitable for this carrying trade, was of course most anxious to get the contract, to give employment to his s.h.i.+ps; and having found out who the other contractors for it were, and all of them happening to be cautious men, not likely to offer for it at a losing price, he resolved to play a bold game, and made his tender for the conveyance of it out in some such words as these: "I offer freight for the tobacco, at one _cuarto_ less than any body else will take it at," and signed his name; a _cuarto_ being the very smallest copper coin current at Manilla. Of course he got the contract; which--as he antic.i.p.ated from knowing the men who offered for it--turned out to be a very good one; and, as the Yntendente of the time was an intimate friend of his, he ran little risk of being taken advantage of, by a lower sum being named to him as the lowest tender than what was actually the case.

Nearly all the tobacco collected in Cagayan is yearly brought to Manilla during the north-east monsoon. The contracts for this purpose generally embrace a term of three or four years, during which the rate paid by Government to the person who engages to bring all the bales (or cases) of it which they may require at one fixed freight, never fluctuates, even although the amount s.h.i.+pped by them is very much in excess of the usual quant.i.ty, and he may be forced to charter vessels from his neighbours at a much higher rate than the Government pay him, in order to fulfil the conditions of his contract. Considerable care is requisite in loading this tobacco, as, should there be a mistake made even of one bale, the contractor is forced to account for it to Government at the price they sell it at, which is about three times as much as they pay for it; and this regulation is no doubt found to be very requisite, in order to prevent fraud.

After the tobacco has been manufactured into cigars, the contractor has to deliver it at various stations throughout the islands, these places being generally the head-quarters of the fiscal or _estanco_ department of the different maritime provinces from which the other are supplied. Besides the coasting trade from the provinces to Manilla, and that in the government service, there is a trade carried on by various provinces between themselves, such as conveying rice or paddy from the grain-districts to other provinces where less of it is grown, from the attention of the natives being directed to some other agricultural produce more suitable than paddy to their soil and climate, as from Antique to Mindora or Zamboanga, or from the island of Samar to that of Negros, or to Mesamis. Thus in the hemp provinces, little paddy is planted, as it is more profitable for them to make hemp, or to weave Sinamais cloths, &c., than to do so. This commerce, however, is not of any great extent; the princ.i.p.al--indeed the only great--market of the country being Manilla, where traders from all parts of the Archipelago meet to buy and sell.

It has been mentioned elsewhere that foreign men, as well as foreign s.h.i.+ps, are at present excluded from engaging in the provincial trade; which is about as illiberal and unwise an act as any country could be guilty of, and should be changed, not for the benefit of foreign traders, but for the good of the country.

In connexion with the province trade, the naval school ought to be mentioned, as it is a most useful inst.i.tution, where arithmetic, geometry, and navigation are taught gratuitously, at an expense to Government of nearly 2,400 dollars a-year.

The President of the Chamber of Commerce is also President of the school, and the members of that body have the privilege of admitting the pupils--a right which I believe they exercise liberally. At this place, boys are very well trained up in the scientific and theoretical part of their profession; but unfortunately, from some cause or other, their education afterwards as practical seamen does not keep pace with it, and they generally are as much behind our British or American s.h.i.+pmasters in all relating to the sea, as can be well conceived, although they are not unfrequently superior to them, and at least are equal, in their theoretical attainments.

At this school, many of the Creoles and Mestizos of Manilla have shown to the world that they did not want the ability to learn, when they had good masters to instruct them; but good heads and hands are seldom found together. In fact, I rather think that the lads educated here are taught too much (if that be possible), and by being so, have their ideas raised above their stations; for many of them are, by a great deal, much more like gentlemen than a number of the merchant skippers or mates in our British s.h.i.+ps, whose h.o.r.n.y fists and tar-stained dress make few pretensions to outward gentility.

Among the province-trading vessels lying at anchor in Manilla river, there are at all times to be seen some curious specimens of s.h.i.+p-building, few of them being insurable.

Some of these coasters, although nearly all shaped in the European style, have almost the whole of their rigging constructed of ropes made from the bamboo, and are fitted with anchors made from ebony or some other heavy wood, having occasionally a large piece of stone fastened to them, to insure their sinking. The cables to which they are attached are generally of a black rush, like sedge, or of bamboo; but in the event of a gale, I should say that their crews had great need never to embark in these frail sh.e.l.ls, except when well a.s.sured of being at peace with G.o.d and man.

In ordinary years these vessels are laid up for several months every season, as it would most probably be certain destruction for any of them to attempt proceeding to sea from October till December.

Although a large proportion of the colonial-built vessels are bad, still there are a few constructed in the country which would be considered fine s.h.i.+ps in any part of the world.

When a good vessel is built there, the first voyage she makes is usually to Spain, if she can get a freight; and after discharging her cargo, her next voyage is to a British port, in order that she may be fitted with copper bolts and iron work, under the inspection of Lloyd's surveyor; after which her character is established, and she is cla.s.sed A 1 s.h.i.+p for a term of years.

But notwithstanding these s.h.i.+ps being placed in Lloyd's books, the insurance offices can seldom be persuaded to accept of risks even in first-cla.s.s vessels, when their crews are Spaniards, on the same favourable terms at which risks are freely taken on good British s.h.i.+ps. They almost invariably demand an increased premium, and occasionally decline risks by them altogether.

Now, although bad management sometimes occurs on board of Spanish s.h.i.+ps, our own are not exempt from it; and I believe that prejudice causes them to refuse the insurance as much as anything else.

The Dons have got a bad name as seamen, and very true is the elegant proverb, "Give a dog a bad name, and hang him."

CHAPTER x.x.xII.

Nearly the whole of the produce of the Philippines is exported from Manilla by the foreign merchants resident there, none of the Spaniards being engaged in commerce to anything like the same extent as the foreigners are; the few British and the two American houses doing an immensely greater amount of business than the whole transactions of all the Spanish merchants, numerous though they be. The trade of my countrymen consists princ.i.p.ally in selling cotton manufactured goods, and in purchasing the produce of the islands for export; while the business of the Americans, who sell few goods, consists almost entirely in purchasing produce for the markets of the United States, and elsewhere. The Chinese are also large importers of their country's manufactures, curiosities, and nick-knacks, and also very considerable exporters.

The statistical data embodied in the following tables will inform the reader pretty exactly of the amount of exports from the Philippines, with the exception of the single article of rice, immense quant.i.ties of which are carried over to China by Spanish s.h.i.+ps, which load it at the districts where it is grown; for as the Government charge no export duty on its exportation in s.h.i.+ps bearing the national flag, they are allowed to depart from the general rule of all vessels being obliged to load at Manilla while s.h.i.+pping cargo for foreign ports, if they are merely taking rice on board, and nothing else.

It is right, however, to inform the reader, that although the subjoined table may approach very nearly to the truth in most respects, as it has been gradually and very carefully collected by the largest British mercantile establishment at Manilla, the nature of whose business requires that they should be as well acquainted with all facts such as the table embraces, as from the nature of existing circ.u.mstances there it is possible to be, yet at that place there is at all times a greater or less degree of difficulty in obtaining correct statistical information of the trade; and this is considerably increased by the Government not choosing to communicate the particulars they collect at the Custom-house, erroneous though they be.

In an underhand way, however, these particulars can be obtained from some of the Indian copyists employed in that establishment, if they are paid for it; and, in fact, they are in the habit of communicating a note of the different cargoes of s.h.i.+ps coming in, or going away loaded, to some of the merchants. Yet these notes are nearly always more or less erroneous, from various causes. To obviate these inconveniences, several of the princ.i.p.al export merchants are in the habit of mutually furnis.h.i.+ng each other with a correct statement of the various cargoes they s.h.i.+p; but still, as there are many exporters besides themselves, some degree of error must pervade even their carefully-gleaned information. But there is one thing to be borne in mind, that the following table is most likely to be considerably under the truth, and certainly is not over it.

General Statement of Exports from Manilla during 1850.

---------------+--------+---------+----------+---------+---------+----------+-------+---------------- | To | To the | To the | To | To | To | To | | Great |Continent|Australian| China. |Singapore|California|United | |Britain.| of | Colonies | | Batavia,| and the |States.| Total | | Europe. | | |& Bombay.| Pacific. | | ---------------+--------+---------+----------+---------+---------+----------+-------+---------------- Sugar | 146,926| 50,830 | 142,359 | -- | 12,749 | 29,144 | 77,919|459,927 peculs.

Hemp | 16,073| 5,568 | -- | -- | 544 | -- |102,184|124,367 "

Cordage | 96| 476 | 3,753 | 1,732 | 680 | 2,137 | 210| 9,084 "

Cigars | 10,319| 11,867 | 12,561 | 9,262 | 26,859 | 1,707 | 914| 73,439 mil.

Leaf Tobacco | -- | 42,629 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 42,629 quintals Sapan-wood | 37,068| 14,436 | -- | 18,942 | 17,337 | -- | 9,015| 96,798 arrobas.

Coffee | 165| 9,670 | 1,481 | 100 | 250 | 1,072 | 2,063| 14,801 peculs Indigo | 259| 213 | -- |uncertain| -- | -- | 3,753| 4,225 quintals Hides | 3,340| 213 | -- | 1,069 | -- | -- | -- | 4,622 peculs.

Hide Cuttings | -- | -- | -- | 536 | -- | -- | 2,419| 2,955 "

Mother-of-pearl| | | | | | | | Sh.e.l.l | 820| 338 | -- | -- | 260 | -- | 74| 1,492 "

Tortoise-sh.e.l.l | 2,081| 580 | -- | 555 | 1,912 | -- | 469| 5,597 catties.

Rice | -- | 6,576 | -- |uncertain| -- | 1,467 | -- |Uncertain.

Beche de Mer | -- | -- | -- | 4,348 | -- | -- | -- | 4,348 peculs.

Gold Dust | -- | -- | -- | 5,068 | -- | -- | -- | 5,068 taels.

Camagon, or | | | | | | | | Ebony-wood | 235| 1,213 | -- | 794 | -- | -- | -- | 2,242 peculs.

Gra.s.s-cloth | 175| 13,252 | -- | 500 | -- | 650 | 22,975| 37,552 pieces.

Hats | -- | -- | 9,400 | 5,115 | 9,115 | 500 | 25,870| 50,000 hats.

The quant.i.ty of rice and paddy s.h.i.+pped to China from the provinces cannot be ascertained with any degree of exactness; what goes from Manilla is very small, because, before arriving there, it has, by its transport expenses, added to the price at which it is obtainable in the districts where it is produced, which, of course, prevents its being s.h.i.+pped from the capital. At a guess, however, I should suppose that about a million cavans, each of which, one with another, weighs about a China pecul, or 133 1/3 lbs, is an average yearly export, should the Government not prohibit the article from being exported for a longer period than usual, which is annually regulated by the scarcity or abundance of food in the country.

From the preceding table, the reader will observe that the exports of 1850, when compared with those of 1847, of which the following is a statement, have increased in some respects, and fallen off in others.

Statement of Exports from Manilla during 1850.

---------------+--------+---------+-------+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+---------------- | To | To the |To the | To the | To the | To | To | To | | Great |Continent|United | Pacific |Australian| China. |Singapore.|Batavia.| |Britain.| of |States.| and |Colonies. | | | | Total | | Europe. | |California.| | | | | ---------------+--------+---------+-------+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+---------------- Sugar |104,246 | 18,755 | 92,149| 4,150 | 174,777 | -- | -- | -- |394,077 peculs.

Hemp | 16,592 | 2,438 | 98,440| -- | -- | 300 | 1,888 | -- |119,658 "

Cordage | 20 | 546 | 7,038| 404 | 4,430 | 825 | 1,425 | -- | 14,688 "

Indigo | 58 | 78 | 2,166| -- | -- | 149 | 118 | -- | 2,569 quintals Sapan-wood | 12,055 | 11,960 | 28,891| -- | 160 | 5,210 | 18,814 | 1,817 | 78,907 peculs.

Hides | 1,366 | 183 | 1,821| -- | -- | 2,389 | -- | -- | 5,759 "

Hide Cuttings | -- | -- | 1,893| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1,893 "

Gold Dust | -- | -- | -- | 3,970 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 3,970 taels.

Coffee | -- | 9,244 | 395| -- | 4,267 | -- | -- | -- | 13,906 peculs.

Rice | 23,760 | 4,520 | -- | 300 | 772 |uncertain| 875 | -- |Uncertain.

Paddy | 1,870 | 13,978 | -- | -- | -- |uncertain| -- | -- |Ditto.

Cigars | 16,010 | 11,176 | 548 | 787 | 9,674 | 6,706 | 19,169 | 5,943 | 70,013 mil.

Leaf Tobacco | 5,440 | 115,016 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 5,280 | -- |125,733 arrobas.

Mother-of-Pearl| | | | | | | | | Sh.e.l.l | 708 | 92 | -- | -- | -- | 16 | -- | -- | 816 peculs.

Gra.s.s-cloth | -- | -- | 56,171| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 56,171 pieces.

Hats | -- | -- | 1,600| -- | 10,932 | -- | 5,560 | -- | 18,092 hats.