SHANGHAI
727
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 & 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. Outsiders soon commenced to find openings for competition, and the result was the winding up of the old company, and the formation of a new one in 1906, under the title of the Shangliai Dock and Engineering Co., Limited. By another company the dock owned by the Chinese Government at the Arsenal at Kao Ch'ang Miao has been acquired under competent European management, and forms a formidable competitor; while one or two private firms have started to undertake ship- building and engineering on a large scale, and with well-equipped works. From the well-appointed yards of the Dock and Engineering Co. several steamers, both river and sea-going, have of late years been turned out, up to a tonnage of fifteen hundred to two thousand, with engines complete, which in their general style are fully equal to European-built vessels, and on account of saving the heavy expenses of steaming out, have proved satisfactory to their owners, so that steel and iron shipbuilding may be considered as one of the regular industries of the port. Shanghai bids fair to soon outrival Bombay as the largest manufacturing centre in Asia.
The "Astor House" in Hongkew, and the "Palace," formerly known as the "Central," in the British, besides many other houses, give good hotel accommodation. There are six daily newspapers: the North-China Daily News, the Shanghai Times, L'Echo de Chine and China Press, morning; the Shanghai Mercury evening; and the weeklies include the North-China Herald, Celestial Empire, The Union, and a number of smaller publications. There are upwards of a dozen native daily papers, the leading ones being the Shun-pao, the Hu-pao, the Sin-wan-pao, the Shi Po, and the Universal Gazette, the latter representing the Reform movement. These are sold at the prices of ten and eight cash, equal to about a farthing. Some of them have a circulation of 10,000 per day. In one matter, that of postal accommodation, Shanghai is over-supplied, much to the disadvantage of the resident community, there being British, French, American, Japanese, Russian, and Chinese Post Offices. The latter was organized by the Maritime Customs and is at present being conducted under the auspices of the Board of Communications. The former Municipal Local Post was in 1898 incorporated with it. It undertakes the transmission of small sums of money and accepts the registration of letters. It will probably be some years before the difficulties inevitable in a country like China are overcome, and foreigners are, justly or unjustly, doubtful as to the inviolability of their correspondence. China has been admitted to the Postal Union. Shanghai was a port of Registry for British slips in 1874. All foreign hongs, and even private houses have to give themselves fancy Chinese names, by which only they are known to the natives. The system is, however, found to have its conveniences. The number of jinrickshas has been temporarily limited to 7,500; there were also 7,460 passenger and cargo wheelbarrows, and 234 public carriages in the Settlement besides large numbers outside. Of private vehicles there were licensed in 1916, 5,368 rickshas, 731 carriages, 673 motor-cars, and 833 ponies. No fewer than 69,089,432 passengers used the tramcars in 1916. The water conveyances licensed numbered 56 foreign cargo boats, 50 native cargo boats, 3 ferry and passenger boats, 1,622 other boats, 264 sampans and 113 steam launches. There are 18 foreign and 21 native theatres, 296 pawn, 260 opium and 1,107 wine shops registered within the Anglo- American Settlement.
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The currency of Shanghai is the tael weight of silver-equal to 579'84 grains troy, of fineness 0.916, but reckoned at 98. That is to say, an actual weight of 98 taels is -counted as 100. The Shanghai tael thus contains, or should contain, 520.43 gr. troy of pure silver, but varies owing to the crude methods of assay. This is, however, the mean. The silver known as "sycce" is cast into "shoes" of fifty taels, more or less. The foreign banks issue notes of the value of one dollar and upwards for both taels and dollars. Smaller transactions are conducted in clean Mexican dollars, or equivalent dollars from the various provincial mints, smaller subsidiary provincial silver coins and copper cash. There are fourteen foreign and numerous native banks in the settlement. In 1896 the Imperial Chinese Bank, under Chinese and European management, was opened by Imperial Decree.