726
SHANGHAI
consequence of this Messrs. Fearon, Daniel & Co.'s Yah Loong Mill was closed and the machinery sold by public auction in December, 1901. Recently the mills have been showing more favourable results and satisfactory profits are now realized by all the foreign-owned ones. Indeed, Shanghai bids fair to become the principal centre of the cotton industry in the Far East. Approaching Shanghai from Woosung the extensive mills 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 builtlings were completed in 1895. These mills were the first erected in Shanghai, and the late viceroy, Li Hung-chang, had a considerable interest in them. Above these on the river side are the Laou Kung Mow, Kung Yik, Ewo, Yangtzepoo (transferred from Hongkong) and Oriental Mills referred to above; while on the opposite shore of Pootung stands the large and busy mill of the International Cotton Manufacturing Co. The Hwa Sing Cotton Company has a large mill with adjacent godowns and storerooms, and three mills for this company are removing from Hongkong to Shanghai. The exceptional prosperity of the cotton trade has led the Shanghai Cotton Company to double its plant, and all foreign controlled mills have made additions to their looms and spindles. Even the Japanese seem to give preference to Shanghai as against Osaka for manufactures intended for the Shanghai market, which, being in the midst of a cotton cultivating district, has a larger scope for its wares. 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. 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 establish- ments 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 to the large engineering and shipbuilding establishments which now form a conspicuous feature in the business of the place. Already in the early 'fifties, Mr. William Muirhead, an engineer officer in the service of the P. & O. S. N. Co., had conceived the idea of starting a repairing shop. With the exception of the P. & O., 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 small establishment to begin, Messrs. Nicolson & 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 & Co., and this from 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 régime were seized with a general desire to become steamer owners, so that the trade got a 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 & 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 large 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 Nicolson & Boyd, the partners of which, finding that they would now have