Directory_and_Chronicle_1888 — Page 391

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CANTON.

When the foreign merchants went back to Canton to establish trade after the capture of the city by the English at the close of 1857, they found the Factory and the buildings along the river in ruins. Recourse for accommodation was consequently had to warehouses on the Honam side of the river. Considerable discussion subse- quently took place as to the selection of a site for a permanent British settlement, and it was eventually determined that an extensive mudflat known as Shameen should be filled in and appropriated. In 1859 an artificial island was created there, a canal constructed between the northern side of the site and the city, and solid and extensive embankments of masonry built. It took about two years to complete this undertaking, and cost no less than $325,000. Of this sum four-fifths were defrayed by the British, and one-fifth by the French Government, to whom a portion of the reclaimed land was given, but they have never built on it. The French also received a grant of the old site of the Viceroy's Yamên, on which the new Catholic Cathedral has been erected. Shameen is pleasingly laid out, and the roads are shaded with well grown trees.

A neat church, called Christ Church, stands at the western end. During an anti-foreign riot on the 10th September, 1883, sixteen houses and the Concordia Theatre on the Settlement were burned by the mob.

In consequence of the decline in the importance of Canton as a place of trade, caused principally by the opening of some of the northern ports, many of the merchants by whom lots were purchased there in 1861, at enormous prices, have withdrawn from Canton altogether. The trade now transacted there by foreigners is limited. Tea and Silk are the staple exports. The total export of Tea for the year ending 31st December, 1886, was 13,686,631 lbs. compared with 17,438,428 lbs. in 1885, and the quantity of Raw Silk exported in 1886 was 19,406 piculs as compared with 11,491 piculs in 1885. The import of Opium in 1886 was 1,070 piculs as com- pared with 2,761 piculs in 1885. The total value of the trade of the port for 1886 was Tls. 37,593,405 as compared with Tls. 28,804,228 in 1885. The purely native trade of Canton still enjoys a high degree of prosperity.

Ample means of intercommunication exist between Canton and Hongkong, a distance of about ninety-five miles, by foreign steamers plying daily, and a large number of native craft. There is daily steam communication with Macao. Steamers also run regularly between Shanghai, Hongkong, and Canton. There is a safe and commodious anchorage within 150 yards of the river wall at Shameen. Only steamers go to Canton; sailing vessels never ascend beyond Whampoa, owing to the difficulties of navigating a crowded river. Canton was connected by telegraph (an overland Ine) with Kowloon in 1883, and another overland line was completed from Canton to Lungchau-fu, on the Kwangsi and Tonquin frontier, in June, 1884

DIRECTORY.

Consulates.

署事領國英大

Tai Ying-kwok Ling-sz shü.

GREAT BRITAIN.

Consul-C. Alabaster

Interpreter & Pro Consul-A. Hosie

Assistant-H. B. Joly

Linguist-Feng Min-sun

Constable-H. Evans

Writers--Lu Hsio-t'ing, Li Mêng-hsiang Post Office Agent-H. B. Joly

FRANCE.

Consul-Vte. de Bezaure

Interprète Chancelier-Guillien (absent)

id. p.i. ---Radignet

Writer-Ou Jen-y

United StATES. Consul-Chas. Seymour Vice-Consul-Gideon Nye

| Interpreter-Loo Tsu Wha

Chinese Writer-Lee U Lin