Directory_and_Chronicle_1890 — Page 636

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LU-SHUN-K'OU (PORT ARTHUR)-NEWCHWANG.

LÜ-SHUN-K'OU (PORT ARTHUR.)

HARBOUR DEPARTMENT.

Harbour Master-Capt. J. Calder

Supdt. Engineer (in charge of dredger Tau-

hai)—Li Chung-Kwong

HARBOUR Works,

In hands of French Syndicate

Agent J. Thévenet (Tientsin) Engineer Director—R. Griffon Mechanical Engineer-E. Dausque Army and Navy Hospital-H. Duchon

Doris, M. D.

Conductors of Works-II. Riviere, L.

Struck

Interpreter-C. Encarnaçao

Mechanial Engineers-Th. Plessy, X.

Kritter

Foreman Mason-H. Lafosse

FORTIFICATIONS AND ORDNANCE DEPT. Director-Tautai Liu, Hein Fang, (deta-

ched)

Military Instructor-Theo. Schnell

TORPEDO DEPARTMENT.

Captain in charge-Mah Fu-heng Chief in charge of Torpedo Boats and In-

struction-Capt. Rogers, R.N. Supdt. Engineer—Li Chun-yün

Transport Lee Yuen. Captain-W. W. Morton Chief Officer-A. A. Crawford Second Officer-D. A. Klein Chief Engineer -Wm. Marshall Second Engineer-Hugh Rodger Third Engineer-Wm. Waight

NEWCHWANG.

Newchwang is the most northerly port in China open to foreign trade. It is situated in the province of Shing-king, in Manchuria. It is called by the natives Ying-tz, and lies about thirteen miles from the mouth of the river Liao, which falls into the Gulf of Liao-tung, a continuation of the Gulf of Pechili.

Before the port was opened, comparatively little was known of this part of the Central Kingdom. Manchuria has since, however, been largely colonised by the Chinese, who now outnumber the natives. The word Ying-tz means military station, and that was the only use formerly made of the port. Between the years 1858 and 1860, the British fleet assembled in Ta-lien-wan Bay, and early in 1861 the foreign settlement was established. The town of Newchwang itself is distant from Ying-tz about thirty miles, and is a sparsely populated, uninteresting, and unimportant place.

The country about the port of Newchwang is bare and desolate, and in sailing up the river the voyager encounters a cheerless prospect. Ying-tz is surrounded by dreary marshes, and the land under cultivation produces principally Beans. The river is closed by ice for more than three months every year, during which period the residents are entirely cut off from the outer world. The climate, however, is healthy and bracing. The population of the place is estimated at 60,000.

The chief articles of trade at the port are Beans and Bean-cake, 2,651,067 piculs of the former and 1,865,384 piculs of the latter being exported in 1888, as against 2,595,963 piculs and 3,031,348 piculs respectively in 1887. The net quantity of Opium imported in 1888 was 113 piculs, compared with 2,453 piculs in 1879. The import of Opium has of late years shown a continuous decline, the poppy being largely and successfully cultivated in Manchuria. The value of the total trade of the pot for 1888 amounted to Tls. 9,964,868 as against Tls. 10,356,673 in 1878.