916
SWATOW
construct an electric tramway on the bund and to erect wharves. Up to the present its chief activities have been confined to a survey of the locality and to the sale of foreshore lots.
The climate of Swatow is reputed to be very salubrious. The town, however, has suffered from typhoons on many occasions. Many thousands of lives were lost and very extensive damage to shipping and property was caused by one of these terrible storms which, accompanied by a tidal wave, struck the port on the night of August 2nd, 1922. Seismic disturbances, also, have frequently been felt here. The most serious was that on February 13th, 1918, when, it is computed, over 2,000 people were killed and several thousand injured, while the damage to property was immense. The population of Swatow is estimated at from 50,000 to 60,000 inhabitants.
A Chinese syndicate, with a capital of $3,000,000, obtained the necessary sanction for the construction of a railway from Swatow to Ch'ao-chou-fu, and work was commenced on the line in 1904. The line, which is 28 miles in length, was opened to traffic on November 25th, 1906. The contractors were Japanese, who supplied all material, the rails and engines coming from America and the carriages from Japan. The construction of the line has brought about a great inflation of land values.
Swatow has now an electric light plant of its own, and on account of the cheap price at which the current is supplied this method of lighting is finding favour with the Chinese, and, to some extent, replacing the use of kerosene lamps. A new waterworks was completed early in 1914, the reservoir being at Kia-kun, about eight miles inland. In the middle of 1919 a telephone service was introduced.
The foreign trade of Swatow has never been large. Tea and sugar were formerly the principal exports, but the tea trade here, as in other China ports, has to a very large extent passed away. Increased attention is being given to the cultivation of vegetables, fruit, indigo and tobacco leaf. It is thought probable that in the near future minerals will assume increased importance in the export trade of this port, as prospecting discloses more of the latent wealth of the district. The net value of the trade of the port coming under the cognisance of the Foreign Customs for 1921 was Hk. Tls. 82,121,489, as compared with Hk. Tls. 63,853,119 in 1920, Hk. Tls. 58,440,581 in 1919, Hk. Tls. 50,182,937 in 1918, and Hk. Tls. 51,900,351 in 1917.
ANGLO-CHINESE COLLEGE
DIRECTORY
Rev. H. F. Wallace, M.A., B.D., principal
A. W. Edmunds, B.A., B.A.I., and wife
亞細亞 Ah-si-ah
ASIATIC PETROLEUM Co. (SOUTH CHINA),
LTD. (Incorporated in England)-
Teleph. 8; Tel. Ad: Petrosilex; Codes:
A.B.C. 5th edn., Bentley's (Oil edn.)
and private
S. R. Waller, local manager
J. B. Harrison
W. Pearne
J. A. Ozorio
C. H. Arnott, installation manager
Agency
The Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co., Ld.
Astor House Hotel-Teleph. 61; Tel.
Ad: Stirling
T. Sai, proprietor
行銀灣臺
BANK OF TAIWAN, LTD.-Tel. Ad: Tai-
wangink
T. Wutsumi, manager
N. Kuboki, p.p. do.
S. Kobayashi
T. Yoshitsu
|
T. Hayasaki
H. K. Sim
BRANGWIN, Dr. C. H., Medical Practitioner,
Port Medical Officer
記德 Tek-kee
BRADLEY & Co., LTD., Merchants
Thomas Wm. Richardson, governing
director (England)
Robt. H. Hill (England)
J. A. Plummer (Hongkong)
G. A. Richardson (London)
A. Macgowan (Swatow)
T. G. Drakeford (Shanghai)
J. Robinson
A. R. Pollock, engineer H. A. Ozorio
Agencies
Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corpn. Mercantile Bank of India, Ld.
International Banking Corporation
Peninsular and Oriental S. N. Co.
Ben Line of Steamers
Nippon Yusen Kaisha Osaka Shosen Kaisha Toyo Kisen Kaisha Nisshin Kisen Kaisha Lloyd's
Royal Insurance Co.
China Fire Insurance Co., L.