Directory_and_Chronicle_1927

LUNGKOW

647

by dredging operations. Until such time as recognition of its favourable geographical situation forces the bestowal of increased communications, together with harbour improvements similar to those at Chefoo, any increase of trade will be slow and must come from an increase in exports and a gradual elevation of the scale of living with an attendant increase in imports. A liandsome new reinforced concrete pier at the New Settlement has been completed, but has never been used and the roads leading to it have been allowed to deteriorate in consequence. During 1924 development of the town northwards was planned with some success by the end of the year. There is a godown near the pier for the storage of cargo. An electric light works, long anticipated, is now a fact, but it will be some time before its sharehlders can expect a dividend owing to the high level of its essential expenses.

The town of Lungkow has a population of 8,183. It is estimated that within a radius of about five miles of Lungkow there is a population of 65,000. A level stretch of country behind Lungkow, thickly populated and very fertile, gives promise of the port some day assuming considerable importance. The proposed Chefoo-Weihsien Railway would connect Lungkow with both Chefoo and Weihsien, thus with north and central Shantung. It is thought that the Weihsien-Lungkow-Chefoo motor highway, now completed, may be converted into a railway in the near future and this idea is responsible for the present building activity. In the meantime, this new road brings more trade to the port, although closed to traffic in wet weather, the rainy season being July and August. The road, however is now managed by a merchant company, as a result of which branch lines are opening up and the transport of mails and cargo has commenced to an appreciable extent. The value of land rose rapidly in the early part of 1924 but has since fallen very considerably in the old town. Two-storey houses are becoming a common feature. The beach and isthmus of Lungkow are of a loose drifting sand, which, in stormy weather, coupled with dust from the numerous coal supply depots on all sides, mar what otherwise might easily become a seaside resort for those whose work is in the near neighbourhood. The climate is cooler than that of Chefoo.

The opening of this port to foreign trade was due to overtures made to the Chinese Government by Japan. There is a large passenger trade between Shantung Province and Manchuria. Between 10,000 and 50,000 Shantung natives migrate to Manchuria each year for the summer crops, returning again in the autumn or early winter. At present the bulk of this traffic goes from Chefoo and Tsingtao. As Dairen is about 120 miles from Lungkow, it will be possible to divert much of this passenger traffic to Lungkow, where Japanese steamers will probably be prepared to take it at a lower rate to Dairen than would be possible from Chefoo or Tsingtao, especially if a railway were constructed connecting Lungkow with Weihsien.

The trade of the port coming under the cognisance of the Chinese Maritime Customs amounted to Hk. Tls. 7,512,349 in 1925, as compared with Hk. Tls, 6,409,616 in 1924, Hk. Tls. 7,206,989 in 1923, and Hk. Tls. 5,961,426 in 1922. The principal staple of the port is vermicelli, the local brand being, in the estimation of Chinese consumers, supreme in quality. The export of this commodity has risen from 31,017 piculs in 1917 to 165,794 piculs in 1925. A small factory for making isinglass from seaweed, another for making glass-ware from imported broken glass, started operations in 1921, a third now exists for preparing bean oil, and a factory for making a fluted tile from red earth has been doing a good trade for some time.

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