All who seriously attempt to gather primary materials about Thailand's trade in the prewar period must brace themselves for considerable difficulties that will usually confront them. Certainly Statistical Year Book of Thailand has been published as the official publication since 1916, including trade statistics. But as far as we have so far researched, there exist no organizations that preserve primary materials comprehensively and sequentially. The list of such organizations includes the Thai National Archives, national universities, and many plausible government ministries and agencies. In Thailand the bureaucratic system developed in olden days and a lot of paperwork should have been created. Therefore, it is only natural to expect that there should be many documents and statistics concerning the trade before World War II. Although we have had no luck yet, we still believe that we may discover such materials that may be long-forgotten somewhere. We just may not have enough clout or expertise to access them. For the moment, however, no one can expect to gain access to such primary materials as will give a comprehensive and sequential view of foreign trade in prewar Thailand, not even those at important research institutes there.
Under the difficult circumstances, however, my attempt to compile trade statistics of prewar Thailand as a part of the Asian Historical Statistics Project has made steady progress in collecting historical materials, even though they are barely adequate, and we have managed to aggregate various numerical data. I would like to explain briefly about what we have hitherto achieved and discuss our prospects for the near future.
Working to develop statistics about foreign trade in prewar Thailand, we have focused on the customs clearance records made by the Thai Custom Department ( Krom Sulakakon ) and on the reports prepared by the British consuls, which we have been collecting and using for the purpose of aggregation. One of the principal purposes of this collection-aggregation work is to review critically through analyses of the above stated primary materials the highly acclaimed Economic Change in Thailand 1850-1970 by James C. Ingram ( California: Stanford University Press,1971. ), which has been considered as a basic reading for students of Thai foreign trade since it first appeared in 1955 under the title of Economic Change in Thailand 1850-1950. First, let me introduce those historical records and explain how much or little they have been collected.
The statistical records of customs clearance are one of the most fundamental materials when we consider trade statistics in prewar Thailand. Our work centers around collecting those records and aggregating the data therein. The records collected are divided into two types ; (‚P) Foreign Trade and Navigation on the Port of Bangkok ( FTN ), and (‚Q) Statistics of Import and Export Trade of Siam ( SIET ). These customs clearance records have not yet been fully utilized in preceding studies, despite that they were originally prepared by the Custom Department, and are of great significance as they covered the years from the early 20th century to the 1950s. ( See the Appendix. )
As for the custom clearance records dubbed FTN in the present article, we have obtained editions for the years from 1907-08 to 1911-12. For such benchmark years as 1923-24, 1928-29, 1933-34 and 1938-39, in the prewar times, and 1948-49, 1955 in the post war period, the data has already been inputted. For example, the statistical report for the years 1907-08 titled FTN for the year ending March 31, 1908 by the Statistical Office, H.S.M. Custom are composed as follows. It begins with a preface addressed to Mom Chow Prom, Director-General of Customs, by Norman Maxwell in charge of the Statistics Division of Customs, and then it is followed by notes under the headings of " Memorandum " and " Abstract Tables." The contents, 99 pages in all, are arranged under headings such as : " Detailed Statement of Imports," " Detailed Statement of Exports," " Imports from all Countries," " Exports to all Countries," " Abstract Table of Imports from each Country," " Abstract Table of Exports to each Country," " Summary of Shipping," and " Summary of Passenger Traffic by Sea." This particular book came out in May, 1908, carrying in it the detailed statement of imports and exports for the two years 1906-07 and 1907-08, or Rattanakosin ( the Siamese years ) 125 and 126. As for the abstract tables, we can go as far back as 1902-03, and the data of the imports from, and exports to, all countries are available from 1903-04.
In Maxwell's preface which was mentioned above, the following explanation was given about the preparation of this FTN series. It concerns the year when statistics first were made and the change of the calendars used. The series started in 1899 and used the Christian calendar until 1906. But beginning with the FTN published in May, 1908, they have switched to the Siamese calendar that starts in April and ends in March of the following year. Accordingly, they recalculated the figures of the year 1906 to adjust them to the new system. In reading statistical data, various memoranda, or notes may supply precious information other than the data. The present preface should be a good example.
Apart from the FTN series, there exist another kind of customs clearance statistics edited under a different title. That is, the SIET series. ( See Appendix 2. ) In our present study, we have added to our database the SIET book for 1906. All the data in it are aggregated based on the Christian calendar. The headings of the first section are " General Imports for the Year 1906 " and " General Account of Shipping in 1906," while the one in the second section is " Abstract of Foreign Trade," whose data goes back to 1900. The SIET book, conveying as much information as the FTN series, is a full-scale statistical record of customs clearance as well.
It is, therefore, only natural to think that this SIET was in fact the statistical records before 1906 which Maxwell referred to in his proposal. However, James C. Ingram in the fore-mentioned books ( 1971 [ 1955 ] ) included this SIET among the reference materials that had been published by the Thai government from 1900 to 1946. It seems Ingram maintained that the SIET was a different series of statistical publication from the FTN. It, however, might look unnatural that the Custom Department published two different sets of statistics during the period. Did they have to do so in order to respond to the two calendars? For the moment, we have little evidence that would clarify the relation between the two series. At any rate, it is necessary to step up our efforts to search for the records for the years between 1899 and 1905 as well as the books for the years from 1912-13 to 1921-22, which remain uncollected, so as to aggregate the data. ( The publication of the serial reports is believed to have been launched in 1899. The statistics of customs clearance had started earlier.)1) James C. Ingram notes as a reference material Comparative Statement of the Imports and Exports of Siam, 1892-1902, which seems to be a statistical record of the customs clearance. No information has been available about its whereabouts. We should hurry to ascertain if it exists and if it does to try to acquire a copy. Incidentally, most of these English language statistical records prepared by the Custom Department were found to be possessed by Japanese research organizations such as the Toyobunko Archives and the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. I would like to emphasize the importance of thorough research of historical materials within the bounds of Japan.
We have made progress in collecting the British Consular Reports, i.e. the reports of trade written by the British consuls in Thailand. The importance of the reports lies in the fact that they carry precious statistical data of trade from the late 19th century to the years before World War I. Therefore, students of Thai economic history have been actively using the reports in their studies. But in most cases, the reports were utilized with cautious definition about limitations such as the times, the regions, and the spheres. But in our present attempt at compiling trade statistics, we are trying to re-aggregate the trade data of Bangkok in the 1850s and of northern and southern Thailand in the early 20th century through use of the microfiche edition ( by Chadwyck-Healy Ltd. ) of the British Parliamentary papers and those collected at the British Museum.2) This data has not been utilized so far. However, the trade statistics themselves in the reports had been obtained generally from the Custom Department ( For northern Thailand the data came from the British colonial officers at Moulmein, and at Penang for southern Thailand ) and the officers at the consulates altered the figures as the circumstances required. The reports themselves are considered to have reflected the interests of the British Empire. This should be kept in mind.
The reports were what British consuls annually wrote to the Foreign Office about the economic outlook and markets in the areas where they were in charge such as Bangkok, Chiangmai, Songkhla ( Senggora ), and Phuket. These were reported to the Parliament and made an important part of the parliamentary documents. Throughout the 19th century, the reports from the Bangkok consuls overwhelmed others in number. The reports from the Chiangmai consuls came into existence in the 1870s, and as the consulate was established there in the 1880s the reports came to adopt a different style from those of Bangkok. After the 1900s, independent reports were written about the southern regions. But because southern Thailand then included the Saiburi region which later would be annexed to British Malaya, a certain caution must be exercised in realizing a statistical continuity.
The reports have maintained a compositional integrity throughout the years. The general conditions for the year concerning trade and the exchange rate are described in the main part and various detailed statistics about the return of shipping at the Bangkok Port and imports and exports of merchandise were attached at the end. Sometimes simple statistical charts were found inserted in the main part, often offering much more important information than the statistics in the back. There is, however, a diversity in the minuteness or detailedness of reporting depending upon the authors' interests. Therefore, the attempt to reorganize data chronologically requires a considerable circumspection ; to adjust carefully the units used, and consider changes in the classification method of merchandise, etc.
The present attempt at compiling trade statistics aims to give much more detailed data than preceding studies. The basic data of the prewar times will facilitate to form a coherent view of trade before and after World War II.
What is more, this study, activating a search for materials from the prewar period, will lead to new discoveries. For that purpose, it will become essential to search not only archives and research organizations in Thailand, Japan and England, but also the private collections of foreign residents in Thailand, and the British Parliamentary papers which were recently compiled by the National Museum of Ethnology.
The following are the statistics that the Thai team is utilizing as source material for its efforts to compile chronologically Thailand's trade data during the period from 1845 to 1948.
1) ‚e‚s‚m, 1906-1955 : The Statistical Office, His Majesty's Customs, The Foreign Trade and Navigation on the Port of Bangkok. Year Ending March 31, 1908.
The FTN book issued in 1908 contains data for the years 1906 and 1907. We have collected this FTN series up to the issue published in 1912, which covers the years 1911 and 1912. For the 1920s and after, we have gathered The Statistical Office, His Majesty's Customs, Annual Statement of Foreign Trade and Navigation of the Kingdom of Siam. Year 2466 (1923-24 ) and 2467 ( 1924-25 ).
The current project marks 1923-24, 1928-29, 1933-34 and 1938-39 as benchmark years in prewar times. We have already collected and inputted data for these benchmark years. Incidentally, we have also inputted data for 1948-49, 1950 and 1955.
(note : The above titles were taken from the first of the series. )
2) ‚r‚h‚d‚s, 1906 : The Statistical Division of His Majesty's Customs, Statistics of Import and Export Trade of Siam. 1906, Port of Bangkok, 1907.
3a) Bangkok, 1854-1860 : Siam ( or Bangkok ), Abstract of Reports on the Trade of Various Countries and Places for the Year 1854. 1855. LXX.1,2078.
We have collected the reports from 1854 to 1860. But it is only after 1856 that reliable trade data became available.
3b) Bangkok, 1863-1885 : Foreign Office, Commercial Reports from Her Majesty's Consuls in China and Siam. July 1, 1863 and June 30, 1864. 1864 LXI.1,3393
Collected from 1863 to 1885. But we have not yet confirmed about 1868 and 1869. The titles differ a little from year to year.
3c) Bangkok, 1886-1913 / 14 : Annual Series No.222. Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance, Siam Report for the year 1886 on the Trade of Bangkok 1887 LXXXVI,C.4923-145 For this, we have collected from 1886 to 1913 / 14.
4) Northern Thailand, 1874-1913 : Annual Series No.1089. Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance Siam. Report for the Year 1891 on the Trade of Chiangmai, 1892 LXXXIV, Cd.6812-14.
We have collected the reports for 1874, and 1889-1913. But for the years 1874, 1889, 1890, 1892, and 1893, the reports were included in those from Bangkok. The reports about Nan have been collected for the years 1896, 1898, 1900, 1904, 1907, 1910, 1912 and 1913. Among these, the report of 1900 only was an independent one. All others were included in the reports from Chiangmai.
5) Southern Thailand, 1908-1913 / 14 : Annual Series No.4333 Diplomatic and Consular Reports, Siam. Report for the year 1908 on the trade of the Monthons of Nakon Sritamarat and Patani, 1909. Cd.4446-157. As for Nakon Sritamarat and Patani, we have collected the reports for 1908 and 1909. As for Saiburi and Phuket, those for 1906 and 1908, as for Chumpawn for 1908, and as for Songkla ( Senggora ) for the years from 1910-11 to 1913-14, have been collected.
(Tenri University, Faculty of International Culture Stadies)
1) Professor Akira Suehiro of the University of Tokyo says that Ichiro Kakizaki, a Ph.D. candidate of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, who conducted research at the Thai National Archives confirmed its possession of the statistical records of customs clearance for 1899, and that Makoto Nambara confirmed that the FTN for the years after 1918 are possessed by the London School of Economics.
2) The British Consular Reports of the 1850s were collected by Akira Sugawara of Kanagawa University. I have been allowed to use to them through the courtesy of Associate Professor Hiroshi Yamamoto of Ibaragi University.