KONGMOON
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fast during the summer months. The steamer anchorage is in the West River at the mouth of the Creek, opposite the Chinese Maritime Customs, but the town is included in the port limits. The population of Kongmoon is about 55,000, and it has the appearance of being a more populous centre, as it extends for a considerable distance on both banks of the stream. Formerly it was a business centre of considerable importance, but various causes have arisen which appear to have lessened its com- mercial standing and interfered adversely with the general prosperity of the port.
It was generally considered that the proximity of Kongmoon to Hongkong and Macao and its favourable situation as an outlet and distributing centre for the southern prefectures of the province augured well for its future prosperity and development. This was, to some extent, true, but it should be remembered that facts have arisen which have tended to diminish rather than increase its commercial importance. Formerly it enjoyed direct communication with Shanghai and Foochow and was the real outlet and distributing centre for the south-western district of the delta and the Southern prefectures of the province. The development of Hongkong and the opening of Kiungchow and Pakhoi as treaty ports, however, have seriously interfered with the junk trade and general welfare of the port, and have, besides, opened up other trade routes to districts hitherto dependent upon Konginoon for their supplies. At present there are no indications that the sanguine expectations, based upon imperfect knowledge, entertained concerning the over-estimated commer- cial possibilities of the place will be speedily, if ever, realized. There is daily steam communication with Hongkong, and considerable numbers of vessels trading under the Inland Waters Steam Regulations arrive and depart daily. There are also several large junks trading regularly to Hong Kong, Macao, and the Island. of Hainan. A railway from Kongmoon to Toishan on the coast, a distance of about 80 miles, was constructed in 1909-10 under the supervision of native engineers, trained in America, but it stops short six miles from the sea, as to take the line right down would involve laying out a new town on the water- front and dredging operations. The train now cross the South-West River by means of a pontoon ferry at Ngauwan (4), but the construction of a bridge across the river between Tanshuihau (A) and Kungyikfou (A) was commenced in 1931. It is expected that this bridge will be completed in about two years and the line will then be looped at Ssu Chin()Station. completion of the bridge will enable freight trains to be run between Kong- moon and Toushan, which the present light pontoon ferry does not admit of. A branch line of the Sunning Railway was opened in 1920 from Sunning City to Paksha ( The Company maintained a regular service between Tou- shan during 1932 and realised a net profit of some $230,000 on the year's work- ing. A telegraph office, was opened on the 8th December, 1907, in the town, and in November, 1911, in the Settlement, and telegraphic communication is now possible with the Fatshan office. The high road between Kongmoon and Hok- shan, a town some 50 miles away, was officially opened on January 10th, 1932.
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Considerable development has taken place in road-making and the Kongmoon-Pakkai motor road, about 3 miles in length and connecting the steamer anchorage with the city itself, was opened to traffic during the early part of 1930, and a motor-bus service was formally inaugurated on the 2nd June of that year.
There is also a motor-bus service running from Kongmoon to the Sunwui City. Long distance telephones on the overland telegraph lines between Kong- moon and Canton, Shekki ( and Yeungkong I were completed in the early part of 1933 and open to communication.
etc.,
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TRADE IN 1932
In the Annual Report on the Trade of China issued by the Chinese Mari- time Customs Service, it is recorded that the prosperity of the districts around Kongmoon largely depends on remittances from emigrants abroad-United States of America, Canada, South America, Australia, Straits Settlements, which in the year 1929 were roughly estimated to be somewhere in the neighbourhood of Chinese $50,000,000 per annum. This figure was arrived at by crediting every one of the estimated two million emigrants abread with a monthly remittance of the equivalent of Chinese $2. These figures are only tenta-
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