SHANGHAI
739
showing more favourable results. ApproachingShanghai from Woosung the extensive mill of the Shanghai Cotton Cloth Administration (a native-owned business) meet the eye; the old premises were destroyed by fire in 1893, and the present buildings were completed in 1895. These mills were the first erected in Shanghai, and the late ex-viceroy, Li Hung- chang, had a considerable interest in them. Above these on the river side are the mills of Ilbert & Co., Jarline, Matheson & Co., and Arnhold, Karberg & Co., referred to above; while on the opposite or Pootung shore stands the large and busy mill of the Interna- tional Cotton Manufacturing Co. There are also a number of ginning factories, foreign and native owned. Much of this cleaned cotton is exported to Japan. Of Silk Filatures Shanghai has 25, with a total of 8,000 basins, of which five are foreign managed. The export in 1895 was 6,276 bales of one picul (1334 lbs, each); in 1905 it was 12,791, but in intervening years the export was considerably larger; in 1900, for instance export was 14,738 piculs. One only of these Filatures is the property of a private firm; the others being owned by Foreign or Chinese Companies. These Filatures, which give employment to 20,000 Natives, are scattered over the Hongkew and the Sinza districts, with the exception of a large one of 300 basins at Jessfield-the Hing Chong Filature. Of other industries we may note Hydraulic Packing Factories, foreign and native owned Paper Mills, two Chinese-owned Match Factories, turning out between them some 80 cases, containing each 100 gross of boxes, per day. There are also large foreign Flour Mills (for grinding native wheat, which it is said makes excellent flour), two Kerosene Tank Oil and Tinning establishments and works, and various other industries which are fast increasing in number.
No notice of the important place taken by Shanghai in the industrial progress of the East would be complete without a reference of the large engineering and shipbuilding establishments which now form a conspicuous feature in the business of the place. Already in
Already in the early fifties, Mr. William Muirhead, an engineer officer in the service of the P. and O. had conceived the idea of starting a repairing shop. With the exception of the P. and O. Co., which then ran a fortnightly mail service from Hongkong, there was no regular line of steamers trading with the port, and the visits of coasting steamers were few and far between. Still as the northern terminal port in China, occasional jobs came in. After the opening of Tientsin and the northern ports, and more especially after the opening of Japan, the business commenced to increase, and room was found for another s nall establishment to begin, Messrs. Nicholson and Boyd. Towards the end of the sixties Mr. Muirhead retired owing to failing health, and his business passed over to his former competitors. Meantime as a number of sailing ships then entered the port, many of which came from the United States, two enterprising American shipwrights, S. C. Farnham and C. P. Blethen had started, in connection with the "Old Dock," a general shipbuilding and repairing establishment under the style of S. C. Farnham and Co., and this froin small beginnings rapidly grew in importance. The opening of the Suez Canal enormously increased the number of steamers visiting the port, and the Japanese daimios of the old regîne were seized with a general desire to become steamer owners, so that the trade got à considerable fillip, and in the way of docking and repairs a large amount of local business commenced to spring up, and competition finally became strong. About 1890 both the old partners in S. C. Farnham and Co. having died, their successors conceived the idea of converting the old business into a limited liability company, and this was finally accomplished in 1893. In 1892 another limited liability company, the Shanghai Engineering and Dock Company entered the field, and com- menced to build a larger and more commodious dock than had up to that time existed in the place. They had, however, under estimated the cost, and the new dock having met with a mishap, the Company found itself in financial straits. Overtures were made, with the result that the two concerns amalgamated. Finding themselves now in possession of nearly all the docking facilities of the port, the idea of combining all in one large concern presented itself and negotiations were commenced with Nicholson and Boyd, the partners of which, finding that they would now have increasing difficulty in carrying on in face of the superior advantages possessed by their competitors, consented to an amalgamation; and the style of the new combination was changed to S. C. Farnham, Boyd and Company, Limited, with a nominal capital of upwards of five and a half million taels. Practically the new firm had the complete command of the market, possessing all the dry docks, and all the machine shops of any size. The capital, it was generally considered, was too large; at all events it seems to have tempted to over-speculation, and, as not infrequently happens in similar cases, there was found a disposition on the part of the business to go elsewhere. This led to more or less complaint on the part of the shareholders. Out-
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