May 21, 1896.]
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
take place, which would for a time completely years since the question was brought up at block the entrance to the port of Shanghai, it was a public meeting held in Shanghai to dis- not for another six months, and only after cuss the best means for improving the river, strong pressure had been brought to bear upon but until recently the matter has been allowed the Imperial Government, they could be pre- to remain without further notice. I think vailed upon to do what they should have done most of those engaged in the shipping trade in in the first place of their own initiation, viz., Shanghai will agree that it is advisable we remove the obstructions from the river. The should have the control of the river in the hands thorough and expeditious manner in which this of a Board, with authority to issue such regula work was carried ont by the harbour anthorities tions as may be considered best to minimise showed that there was 110
reason why the the risk of accidents, and also with power to wrecks should not have been removed at once. enforce their observance by all ressels of what. had the Government only recognised their ever class or nationality visiting this port. obligations in the matter. The mill of pro- The Harbour Master has drawn up rules which gress in this country grinds very slowly; it re- if only strictly adhered to would go far towards mains with us aliens to see that it does not come meeting this want, but unfortunately, we know to a standstill altogether. As regards the that a good many vessels entirely ignore them. effect of the bar on the shipping trade, I and as these are in most instances occasional will mention the following figures, which I visitors, whose owners have no regular agents think might with advantage be here stated. bere, it is very difficult to bring influence to Of the fortnightly English mail steamers which bear upon them to mend their ways. Tho Con- visited this port last year eighteen remained servancy Board should issue licences to pilots, entirely below the bar, while only three came and pilotage should be made compulsory at all up to Shanghai without first lightening. events between the outer bar at Woosung and Rather more than two thirds of their total Shanghai. This need not inflict any hardship cargoes were discharged at Woosung, and with upon the local companies. as exempt certificates | the exception of a very few hundred tons, the could be granted to the senior officers, subject whole of their export cargoes were loaded below to their passing a regular pilot's examination, the bar. Out of 533 days in port. 366 were authorising them to pilot all vessels belonging passed at Woosung. Our intermediate steamers to the companies by whom they are employed being constructed on somewhat different lines. at the time of obtaining certificates. All of and not being tied down to fixed dates, fared
the large ocean shipping companies already em- somewhat better, but of these nearly half ploy pilots for their steamers, but what we want were unable to reach Shanghai, while a fourth to put a stop to is the passage of vessels, calling of the number only were able to cross without here only occasionally, up and down the river lightening at Woosung. About one-third of while in charge of men who have not sufficient their total inward cargoes were discharged local knowledge. The Board should have below the bar, and nearly the same proportion greater power over all vessels than at present of their export cargoes were loaded there. exercised by the harbour authorities, and their Out of a total of 262 days in port. they spent officers should not only see that they are pro- 84 days at Woosung. Considering that we had perly moored, but should superintend the distri vessels coming and going at regular and frequent bution of the berths available. In Shanghai intervals all the year round, and consequently where there are fixed moorings laid down, this is that many of them were able to take fall
a comparatively simply matter, but at Woosung advantage of the good tides. I think these when the river is low, and a number of steamers figures need no further comment from me to are detained below the bar, there are at times shown the urgent necessity which exists for more ressels requiring berths than can be ac- having some improvement effected in the river. commodated, and confusion arises as to which enabling vessels to reach Shanghai without undue station each vessel will take up. This was the detention. I will not enlarge on the loss thus en- cause of at least one serious collision during last tailed, as this is generally recognised, but I may year. Many instances could be cited as to the mention that during the past year the English necessity of a Board constituted somewhat on mail steamers would have been supplied in the above lines, but I will only mention two. Shanghai with between 4,000 and 5,000 tons of
one being that of an "outside vessel which coal in excess of the quantity purchased. had although drawing some two feet less water thau they all been able to come up the river. This
was signalled on the bar went on shore close by. of course is a dead loss to Shanghai, and no regular pilot being on board. The result sorry to say to the P. & O. Company also, as was that the deepest chaunel was practically the coal had to be supplied elsewhere at an blocked for two nights. Owing to the position increased cost. It seems more than probable of the ressel the harbour authorities did not that other vessels for the same reason had also consider it advisable to signal the depth of water to curtail their purchases of coal here, thus in this channel except during daylight. The incurring a double loss-on the owners and on other case was that of a sailing vessel which, the coal trade of Shanghai. It has been presumably from motives of economy, was towed contended on previous occasions that the
up from Woosung by Chinese launches of complaint against the state of the river is insufficient power. The vessel was conse- probably as much due to the increased sizequently not under proper control and went en of the vessels as to the decreased depth of water on the bar. This, however, as far as the P. & O. Company at all events is concerned, is not the case; I can state from personal experience that formerly we did not have as much trouble in getting these vessels up to Shanghai as we have of late, while our intermediate boats are in point of draught considerably lighter than the mail steamers. To emphasise this I may here remark that during last year half of our steamers were not drawing over 20 feet on arrival, while less than one-third were drawing over 21 feet. It is certainly a fact that during the past few weeks the bar has deepened. but
we have no reason to suppose that this is more than the temporary alteration which usually occurs during the spring. We know that the depth of water on the bar varies very considerably from month to month and from year to year. Sometimes better and some- times worse, but in the long run the general ohange is distinctly for the worse, and because the bar is at the moment better than it has been for some considerable time past, this would not warrant us in relaxing our efforts for obtaining a permanent improvement. I am sorry to hear that the Chairman has not been able to state that definite steps have been taken towards the formation of a Conservancy Board to control the navigation of the Whangpoo. It is. many
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so long as we are without a proper authority to regulate the traffic of the river. Another duty of the Board should be to see that all obstruc tions in the river are promptly removed, and they should be granted the necessary powers for removing these obstructions after first noti- fying the Chinese Government of their intention 10 do so. I have already alluded to the Feima and Nora, two cases in point, but there still remains another wreck which should also be cleared away without further delay. This is the Birkhall, now sunk off the Woosung fort, where it has been for over nine months. A contract has, it is true, been made for raising this wreck, but a great deal of unnecessary delay took place before this was decided upon, although there was no question as to who was responsible for the loss. I do not know that the wreck of the Birkhall is a worse danger to pass- ing vessels than a steamer at anchor would be, but it has taken up a berth at Woosung at a time when there were as many as four steamers lying outside in the Yangtsze wait- ing for room in order to come in and dis- charge. I believe I am right in saying that last autumn one of the continental mail steamers was detained over 48 hours off the red buoy, there being no room for her inside. It is to be hoped that before very long some steps will be taken to improve the approaches to Shanghai. For this purpose a special fund will have to be raised, and it is most important that a Conser- vancy Board should be created without further delay in order to control the collection and expen. diture of the fund, as well as to supervise the actual work on the river. This is another argu- ment which might be, and indeed has already beek, brought forward in favour of a Board to superintend the conservancy of the river, which is that the channel must to a very great extent
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influenced by dredging. hunding, and other changes to which the banks are tinually being subjected. If this were the case nearly twenty years ago, how much more must it be to-day? The number of wharfs has very much increased, and these have to carry on dredging operations which with difficulty make it possible for ocean steamers to go alongside to discharge. In other places the land is required for factories, fore- shores are filled in and bunded up, and, as far as we can see, now that Shanghai is abont to take an important position in the Far East as a manufacturing centre, the demand for such sites with a river frontage will increase. What this indiscriminate and piece-meal work along the banks will result in is of course out of my power to foretell, but it appears to me most necessary that if we are to prevent any further deterioration in the approaches to Shanghai, all works of this nature should be under the guidance of a Board acting on the advice of a qualified engineer. No bunding or dredging should be carried on between the native city and Woosung without permission being first received from the Conservancy Board, nor should mud from the various dredging opera- shore on the bar. where she raised a ridge. tious be deposited in the river except in places This for the time being decreased the depth of indicated by them. We all know that in places the channel considerably. Regulations to meet the river has during the past few years similar cases should he issued by the Con- narrowed considerably. It may not be equally servancy Board, who should have power to well known that it is in parts, at all events, also punish those proved guilty of a breach of the shoaling. Although these shoals have not rules by fines or otherwise, as the circumstances as yet formed obstructions to the naviga- of the case may require. The recent disastrous tion, there is every likelihood of their doing collision at Woosung, resulting in such a So, and for this reason the direction of terrible loss of life, might, I think, be cited works on the banks of the river should be as Опа more argument in support of our placed in competent hands, and some super- demand for a Conservancy Board to re-rision exercised over them as a whole. In view gulate the traffic on the bar, and this I under- stand is confirmed by the Naval Court of In quiry, although I have not yet seen a full re- port of the finding of the Court. It is only a wonder that the damage done was not greater. as two large steamers crossed the bar inward bound a very few minutes after the accident and these might also have been involved in the disaster had the Onico been sunk a little more in the centre of the fairway, in which case not only might the river have been entirely blocked, but the loss of life more than doubled. I do not wish to pose as an alarmist, but we who are directly interested in the shipping trade know that these narrow escapes are of almost daily occurrence and that we are in constant danger of similar disastrous collisions taking place. This state of affairs will continne
of the importance of this question I trust the Committee will continue to press for satis- factory settlement of the matter. The question of bonded warehouses is one which really concerns merchants, but I should like to point out how the present system affects steamship companies. As cargo to be bonded can only be landed at the C. M. Wharf, this necessitates having the goods sorted out on board the steamers at the cost of considerable loss of time and money. Fortunately, up to the present, the amount of cargo bonded has been very small, but it can easily be understood that if, in the future, importers wish to avail them- selves to a greater extent than at present of the bonded warehouses, thus necessitating the sorting on board of a larger quantity of cargo, the delay in discharging a steamer