Coffee. Sugar. Oil. Wine. Fruits. Tobacco. Cotton. Dyes. Value in rubles of imports at Odessa, from the first day of January to the 30th September, 1862, (O. S.) February January. March.... 28,680 April ...... 40, 450 158,570 2,080 May 36,000 200 June July. ..... 10,610 74,010 150 August... 44,190 September 133,122 2,920 12,042 62,994] 56,348 12,064 34,240 7,663 40,510 23,860 14,921) 314,600 69,984 97,142 85,900 13,336 160 198,837 15,542 46,399 17,590 338,499 46,071 29,320 76.273 56,806 101,616 13,319 52,429 54,305 21,604 19,730 50,711 32,350 34,522 34.710 63,260 35,500 4,405 3,000 35,700 1,679,475 7,390 1,035 31,417 17,249 47.581 65,000! 558,213 ..... 106,652 1,142,550 23, 850 100 22, 130 3,305 39,674 21,364 43,088 35,000 301,337 173,451 146,972 1,508,960 18,749 9,595 70,330 2,42 30,496 14,805 29, 666 12,650 465,869 118,843 62,614 1, 185, 180 2,050 3, 130 35,500 530 15,008 8,775 13,133 67,440| 379,777 1,326 68,350 168,646 3,880 47,794 115,914 56,445 1,525 4,300 38,998 117,960 982,849 3 35,003 15, 296 33,393 61,585 335, 537 121,347 433.692 430 31,342 21,906 59,681 145,409 321,526 102,892 341,685 1,339,760 1,439,500 Amount of imports from October 1 to December 31, 1861. Amount total for year ending September 30, 1862............................... Value in rubles of exports at Odessa, from the first day of January to the 30th September, 1862, (O. S.) 10, 320, 870 National flags. Vessels cleared from Odessa from the 1st day of January to the 30th September, 1862. Freight other than grain. Vessels arrived at Odessa from the 1st day of January to the 30th September, 1862. 286 97 74 115 50 1,027 381 250 393 151 HELSINGFORS.-R. FRENCKELL, Consul. 1. Commercial report for 1860. DECEMBER 30, 1861. The general trade of the Grand Duchy of Finland has begun to recover its former flourishing state, which, to some extent, had been depressed by the crisis in western Europe. It is gratifying to perceive that, in spite of the unfavorable state of the exchange, for such as had to come by remittances on Hamburg or London, the imports have considerably increased, and that the general prosperity of the country is going forward. All are particularly struck with this, in the rapid and most astonishing increase of the commercial fleet, as also in the very marked improvement in the implements of agriculture now in use; the result being a larger produce returned and of a far superior quality. A railway will be open for traffic between this port and the town of Tavastohaus in the month of March next, and will particularly benefit the port of Helsingfors; the want of every means of communication having hitherto prevented the development of the resources of the adjacent country. The value of the exports during the year 1860 amounted to 6,588,525 rubles silver, showing the considerable increase of 1,972,692 rubles on the preceding year. The following will give you the value of the exports for the five years succeeding the Russian war, viz: The principal articles exported, and their relative value, were as follows, viz: Timber... Deals, battens, &c.... Tar.... Firewood.. Cereals. Butter. Cattle. Tallow. Salted meat. Iron and steel.. Fish.... Sundries. Total of exports... 184, 431 rubles. Their value during The imports reached the same year the very high sum of 10,836,967 rubles, being an increase of 1,884,087 rubles on the year 1859. the five years succeeding the war has been, viz: 1, 258, 596 rubles. The principal articles imported during the year 1860 were: 1, 195, 938 do. 1, 110, 648 do. Among the articles imported from the United States raw cotton figures as the most important; the value of this importation having been considerably increased during the last few years, viz: In 1856, the value was 279,320 rubles; in 1857, 325,847; in 1858, 371,150; in 1859, 559,740; in 1860, 668,347. We find, on comparison with the return for the year 1859, that raw cotton has been imported from the United States for 108,607 rubles more than in 1859. During the year 1860 there entered at the ports in the Grand Duchy of Finland 2,335 vessels of 273,956 tons, and cleared 2,601 vessels of 325,786 tons burden. In my former reports I had the honor of drawing attention to the considerable losses sustained by the Finnish ship-owners during the late war with England and France, when their fine fleet was reduced to 295 vessels of 43,736 tons; and it is astonishing to see that their merchant fleet, now five years only having expired since that period, amounts to 471 vessels of 117,384 tons burden. When the trifling population of Finland (1,723,168 inhabitants) is taken into consideration, this large tonnage is very surprising, and next to Norway places Finland among the first rank of maritime nations. In this amount of tonnage is not included upwards of 70,000 tons, being the measurement of vessels employed solely in the home trade, and not built for ocean voyages. Ship-building on an extensive scale is still going on along the whole coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, and a larger and finer class of vessels than heretofore is being launched. A large portion of the Finnish merchantmen are engaged on long voyages, remaining out several years at a time, gaining lucrative freights, which in a great degree adds to the general prosperity of the country. During the year 1861 three American vessels visited ports, in the Grand Duchy of Finland. AMOOR RIVER.-P. McD. COLLINS, Commercial Agent. NEW YORK, September 18, 1861. Your note of the 10th instant, came to hand yesterday. * I have the honor to enclose you an article written for the Merchants' Magazine, at the request of the secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, and as it was prepared and in the hands of the printer before I received the notice of Mr. Platt's appointment, I had attached to it my title as commercial agent. I consider this explanation proper, as I would not have felt justified in appending said title had I received previous notice of the appointment of a successor. In connexion with the acknowledgment of the receipt of your note, permit me to say, though not in person at the Amoor, I am sure that by Mr. Chase's presence there, and my exertions both here and in Europe, to place the importance of Northeastern Asia fully and prominently before our mercantile and commercial world, more has been gained for our commerce than any change in the resident incumbent of the agency could possibly have effected. I have brought the subject-matter (commercial importance of Northeastern Asia) fully to the notice of the Chamber of Commerce here, and the president has notified me at some subsequent meeting of the chamber I shall have the opportunity of presenting to many of the first commercial men in New York a full exposition of this country, and the benefits that American commerce may derive therefrom. I have also been requested by the Hon. F. A. Conkling, M. C. of this State, to furnish him with necessary information in regard to the Amoor country, in order to have the subject brought properly before the geographical and statistical society of this city. From my connexion with the idea of the commercial development of the Amoor, and being the first American who had visited Liberia with commercial views, having in view a direct commerce with the United States. I have gained something of a reputation in Russia and Liberia. In my intercourse with the imperial officials from the governor general down, as well as with the merchants, I have received every mark of respect and consideraton; and the object of my travels and explorations have been the subject of much useful discussion in Russian journals and magazines, so as to bring the idea of American commerce to the Amoor and Siberia fully before the Russian public. Added to commerce upon the Amoor, and the introduction of steam, I had the honor of introducing to the immediate notice of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Russia, Alexander II, the idea of telegraphic communication overland throughout the whole breadth of the Russian dominion, so as to unite Europe with the United States via Behring's straits, and thus supersede the necessity of a sub-Atlantic telegraph. The consideration given to my proposition by the imperial government has led already to advantageous results; the government is stretching its line eastwardly towards the Amoor, with the authorization of the Emperor, ultimately to complete it to the shores of the Pacific ocean. Now, under this view of the case it was a matter of some importance, personally, and I believe equally advantageous to our government, that I should be recognized as an officer of the government, connected with the development of the Amoor; because in Russia more than ordinary weight is attached to the fact of government employ. It was my intention to have visited Russia again the past summer, but a wicked rebellion which has blighted whatever its poisonous breath has touched, involved in its early stages in a considerable pecuniary loss, and more than the mere loss of the money, with the very means upon which I depended to make the voyage. Only for this I should now have been at the great fair of Nizhnee-Novgorod, on my way to Siberia. At this fair I hoped to gather the precise information necessary, to the further development of our Amoor commerce, and to have promulgated to the congregated host of merchants there the purposes and prospects of American commerce to the east, so that the knowledge of American purposes on the Amoor and in Northeastern Asia should be known to the Russian commercial world, and also to the Bucharian, Persian, and Toorkoman merchants of Asia, who visit Nizhnee, and whose intercourse reaches even to Thibet. It is my intention to visit Russia so soon as circumstances will permit, and continue to advance our commercial interest at the Amoor on every opportune occasion. |