Directory_and_Chronicle_1930

SWATOW

951

which it is built, and since February, 1877, no less than 21 acres have been reclaimed from the sea, the greater part of which is now covered with shops and houses. A Bund Construction Bureau has been established for the avowed purpose of building a bund 80 feet in width from the Native Custom House on the west to the old fort on the east, the normal line determined by the Customs Marine Department's Surveyor in 1917 being taken as the outer limit. The funds required to meet the cost of construction will be derived from the sale of unreclaimed foreshore lots contained within the bund and of property to which no valid title is held; also from the taxation of land unreclaimed at the time of the bureau's establishment. The bureau, moreover, reserves the right to 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. Street widening operations were begun in January, 1922, but were subsequently interrupted for lack of funds. Work was resumed in 1923 and excellent progress has been made towards completion of the work.

The climate of Swatow is 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 native population of Swatow is estimated at about 200,000 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 brought about a great inflation of land values.

Swatow has an electric light plant of its own, and this method of lighting has largely replaced the use of kerosene lamps, in spite of the fact that the price for cur- rent supplied is higher than in any other city in China, owing to heavy military taxation thereof. 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 is considerable and growing. 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 cultiva- tion of vegetables, fruit, indigo and tobacco leaf. It is thought probable that in the 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 1928 was Hk. Tls. 84,949,586, as compared with Hk. Tls. 87,786,646 in 1927, Hk. Tls. 85,873,105 in 1926, Hk.Tis. 71,505,772 in 1925, and Hk. Tls. 85,677,489 in 1924.

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