HANGCHOW
TRADE IN 1930
813
In his interesting review of the trade of Hangchow during 1930, Mr. H. D. Hilliard says that excessive rains and snow marked the beginning of the year interrupting launch traffic and, on one occasion, causing its complete suspension for more than a week, when the waterways were closed by ice. As the Spring Festival approached, merchants became anxious as to when water routes would again become navigable and resorted to the railway for the car- riage of their urgent supplies. in consequence, a few launches, eager to share this lucrative carrying trade, made desperate efforts to steam against the ice, but nearly all were damaged and had to lay up for repairs. As the year advanced the civil war in North China and the consequent removal of troops afforded renewed opportunity for bandit activities. Near the T'aihu pirates wrought great havoc in the districts bordering on Huchow, while in May a band of desperadoes made a sudden appearance at Chaotai, some 4 miles from the Hangchow Custom House, burning down houses and killing several villa- gers. From the month of June onwards large numbers of wounded soldiers from the front streamed into Chekiang for medical treatment and were billeted on the various cities along the Shanghai-Hangchow Railway. These unwelcome guests proved a constant source of anxiety to the populace, and it was only owing to prompt action on the part of the local authorities that serious trouble was on more than one occasion narrowly averted. Despite these adverse conditions, Hangchow and its environs must be considered to have enjoyed a year of peace as compared with most other cities. With the advent of a plenti- ful harvest, dealers in rice, who had made unusually large importations in the early part of the year, endeavoured to keep up prices artificially. This soon enraged the populace, who threatened to adopt drastic measures, where- upon prices began to sag and soon dropped from $16 to $11 per picul for first quality rice. The cocoon season opened on the 10th May, but constant varia- tions in temperature resulted in extreme poorness of quality, while bandits in the interior did much to disturb the silkworm rearers. Copious rains in- terfered with the growth of the tea plants, while the high cost of picking, coupled with a weak market abroad, had a most discouraging effect on growers, who consequently diminished production. With the object of facilitating the transportation of materials for the construction of the Hangchow-Kiangshan Railway, the Shanghai-Hangchow line was extended about half a mile to the Lin Ho Pagoda. This new railway is to be built under the auspices of the provincial government, and the first section will be constructed to Kinhwa, a distance of some 120 miles, from where a branch line will be built to Lanchi. Two routes for a model highway to Shanghai are under survey: one along the seacoast, utilising the Hangchow-Pinghu line on the Chekiang side, and the other going inland from Shanghai to Tsingpu and thence to Kashing and Hangchow. The second route avoids the wide crossing of the Whangpoo River and passes through many prosperous districts. The total distance will be about 120 miles. Operations carried out by the Whangpoo Conservancy Board resulted in the Shihmen Pass being at last made navigable, and launches on the Shanghai run no longer need to make a long detour via Pingwang. The Municipality has established a Tourist Burcau on the West Lake, its object being to afford all possible assistance to travellers. Services are rendered free of charge. In addition to the five parks on the shore of the West Lake, a sixth was opened during the year. The provision of a water supply on modern lines received the serious attention of the provincial authorities, and a foreign engineer was appointed in June. Hangchow is fortunate in having a number of hills on which elevated reservoirs can be erected at a very small cost as compared with tanks built on towers. The capacity of these elevated reservoirs. will be equal to at least 12 hours consumption by the entire city.
The net value of the trade of the port (recorded by the Maritime Customs) in 1930 was Hk. Tls. 28,351,718, as compared with Hk. Tls. 28,445,000 in 1929, Hk. Tls. 26,189,297 in 1928, and Hk. Tls. 25,634,554 in 1927.